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Origin and history

The former sanatorium Villemin, located in Angicourt, Oise, was the first French public sanatorium dedicated to poor populations with tuberculosis, nicknamed the "white plague". In 1890, Paris Public Assistance, led by Dr Ernest Peyron, launched the project to isolate patients and avoid urban contagions. The architect Henri Belouet designs a U-shaped pavilion, open to the south, with curing galleries and park, inspired by German models but adapted to the French health care system. The site, inaugurated in 1900 with the Letulle Pavilion, became a medical and architectural laboratory, where Dr Georges Küss experimented with treatments such as artificial pneumothorax.

During the First World War (1914-1918), the sanatorium was requisitioned to accommodate the wounded, interrupting its anti-tuberculosis activity. In 1924, a second pavilion, Varenne, was built by architect Louis Masson, doubling the capacity. The 1920s-1930s marked the height of the site, with therapeutic activities (games, library, radio club) and an innovative social organization for patients. After 1945, the decline in tuberculosis transformed sanatorium into a geriatric centre (1965), and its definitive closure came in 2000, leaving a 35-hectare site to be abandoned, despite its partial registration in 2024.

The Villemin Sanatorium illustrates the evolution of public health policies from an isolated sanatorial model to integration into the modern hospital system. Its architecture, preserved in spite of the deteriorations, bears witness to the medical debates of the early 20th century on air cure and hygienism. Today, the project "La Source Angicourt" (2024) envisages its conversion into a hotel and residential complex, combining historical heritage and contemporary uses.

The history of the site is also marked by dark episodes, such as the gathering of Jewish patients by the Gestapo in 1944, where staff, including the Just Edgar Lobgeois, helped patients escape. These events recall the ambiguous role of medical institutions during the occupation. After 1965, the merger with the neighbouring Paul Doumer Hospital seals its gradual decline, accelerated by maintenance costs and medical disaffection.

In 2019, a partial fire damaged the roof, while the Public Assistance – Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP) seeks to divest the site, whose annual cost exceeds €500,000. Rehabilitation projects (Universal National Service, Olympic base) failed before its acquisition in 2024 by Linkcity. Sanatorium remains a symbol of medical innovation and the challenges of preserving hospital heritage.

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