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Origin and history

The Citroën garage in Lyon, located on Rue de Marseille in the 7th arrondissement, was built between 1930 and 1932 under the direction of Maurice-Jacques Ravazé, then head of Citroën's architectural department. This reinforced concrete building, 130 metres long and 52 metres wide, embodies the functionalist architecture of the inter-war period. It was designed as the "greatest gas station in the world", with a garage capable of accommodating a thousand cars, and is distinguished by its monumental hall of 15 meters high, its ramps of access superimposed, and a glass façade of 300 m2 on the square of the University. The artist Jean Prouvé designed emblematic elements such as the glass roof, the ironwork balustrades, and the metal doors, while the structure reflected a rational organization of spaces: sale of new and used cars, repair workshops, and storage spread over six levels.

Listed in the additional inventory of the Historic Monuments on 18 May 1992 despite the initial opposition of Citroën, the garage was renovated in 1996, and then a major rehabilitation between 2013 and 2015 for 33 million euros, led by the 6th Sens Immobilier Group. The works have restored original elements such as the guardrails of Jean Prouvé or the ramps of access, while adapting the upper floors in offices (16 500 m2) and parking spaces (200 places), while the ground floor (4 500 m2) remains dedicated to Citroën. The 18-metre-high octagonal hall, originally designed to impress with its "theatrical" volume, was partially altered in 1971 by the addition of an intermediate floor, but its caissoning and massive concrete columns were preserved.

A symbol of the fledgling automobile age in France, this garage was the most monumental of the twenty Citroën branches built between 1920 and 1935, before the brand's bankruptcy in 1934. Its architecture, marked by vertical stair towers contrasting with horizontal bands, is inspired by constructionism and the Marbeuf garage in Paris (1929). Today, it remains the only intact example of this series, reflecting both the technical innovation of the time (hydraulic lifts, double ramps) and the commercial ambition of André Citroën, who saw it as a "twentieth century palace" dedicated to the automobile. The top floor wood-iron composite frame, designed to be demountable, illustrates this functional flexibility, while reinforced concrete dominates the whole, typical of the industrial achievements of the 1930s.

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