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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

This U-shaped building, located on 11 rue de la République in Saint-Étienne, is representative of the industrial architecture of the mid-19th century. Built around a central courtyard, it combines a main body of eleven symmetrical spans, three square floors on intersolate ground floor, and a lateral stable building. The hierarchical balconies and rectangular bays, some adorned with metal lampshades, reflect the social status of its owners, while optimizing lighting for workers working in the workshops.

The building, completed in 1852 for Étienne Giron, a ribbon manufacturer and then annuitant, illustrates the first phase of construction of this type of building in Saint-Étienne. A close relative of Antoine Marcellin Giron (commander of the n°13 in 1857), Étienne Giron gave the property in 1873 to his wife Anne Giron, then in 1874 to his heirs. A construction supplement was certified in 1881. These buildings, designed to house both traders and their workers, dominated the city's urban landscape until 1914, reflecting the city's industrial boom.

Ranked Historic Monument in 2002 for its facades and roofs, the building embodies the alliance between bourgeois housing and manufacturing. Its U-shaped plan, reproduced in two thirds of the local structure, met a functional imperative: to maximize the openings on the courtyard to illuminate the ribbon shops. The Rue de la République, a major artery, concentrates several of these early achievements, marked by a rigorous symmetry and hierarchy of spaces (central porch, floors distinguished by balconies).

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