Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
The entire large storey, the turbine building, the nickel building in the centre of the courtyard, the storage building to the west of the courtyard, the facades and roofs of the concierge's house on the street and the office buildings, the entrance to the street (CE Box 584): inscription by order of 31 December 2012 - The facades and roofs of the house of the director of the former factory, as well as those of the building of outbuildings adjacent to the turbine building and the entrance to the street with its gate, located 4, avenue Louis-Tirman (cad. CE 15): inscription by decree of 6 June 2014
Key figures
Adolphe Clément - Industrial and founder
Created in 1894 for cycles and automobiles.
Marie-Georges Mialaret - Mayor of Mézières
Acquire military land for industrialization.
Dardenne - Architect
Partially designs factory buildings.
Origin and history
The Macérien factory, located in Charleville-Mézières, was founded in 1894 by Adolphe Clément, a French pioneer of cycles and automobiles. Installed on former military land acquired at low prices by Mayor Marie-Georges Mialaret, it benefited from a canal and a pond providing economic hydraulic energy. Originally dedicated to spare parts for the Clément-Gladiator cycles, she turned to the automobile in 1897 with the Clément-Gladiator vehicles, then Clément-Bayard after 1903.
During the First World War, the factory suffered German occupation: its machines were deported, the mechanical workshop transformed into a military hospital, and the foundry as a ride for the enemy staff. In 1919, she became the Clément Bayard Settlement Anonymous Corporation, refocusing her activities on foundry, mechanics (tractors, licensed excavators), and metal processing. Adolphe Clément, who died in 1928, had retained this site despite the sale of its Parisian factories in Citroën. The factory closed permanently in 1984, after a gradual decline under the management of descendants and then executives.
Architecturally, La Macérien combines functionality and aesthetics, with Dom's yellow stone buildings, roofs on the terrace, and sheds for the Eiffel workshop (1903-1930). The large mechanical workshop (1894), on three levels with metal beams, and the turbine building illustrate this technical hybridization. The nickel workshop (1896-1897) and the general store (1909, the site's first reinforced concrete) complete the whole. The employers' house, in a neo-Gothic style, and the concierge's accommodation (with guardhouse) mark the entrance.
Disused since 1984, the wasteland now hosts municipal services and the Cabaret Green festival. Enlisted for historical monuments in 2012 and 2014, it is the subject of a rehabilitation project combining tertiary and cultural activities, including a current music scene (SMAC). Its industrial heritage, marked by innovation and historical hazards, makes it a symbol of the Ardennes industrial revolution.
The sources stress its role in the local economy, from the production of parts for cycles and automobiles to its contemporary conversion. Architects, like Dardenne, and industrialists like Clement, have left a lasting imprint, between technical heritage and workers' memory.
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