Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The buildings at 31-39 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, were built between 1660 and 1669 for Jean Bricart, an ordinary carpenter of the King's buildings. The subdivision consisted of six small four-storey buildings on the street and a two-storey master house with a garden, backed by the western wall. The garden was replaced by a wooden yard at the end of the 17th century, marking a first utilitarian transformation of space.

In the 18th century, the windows were enlarged and iron guardrails were added, changing the facades of the three most western buildings and the master house, whose attic was transformed into a broken, habitable attic. Workshops were built against the north and east wall between 1726 and 1830, reflecting the artisanal evolution of the neighborhood. These additions illustrate the gradual adaptation of the premises to local economic needs, in particular related to cabinetmaking and woodworking.

In 1930, architect Eugène Boucher built a workshop for the Lévy brothers to manufacture and store seven-storey concrete and silicon-calcary brick furniture in the centre of the courtyard. This modern building, with its concrete terrace, contrasts with 17th century structures, reflecting the persistence of artisanal activity in this historic suburb. Today's protected elements include the fronts, roofs, wooden stairs of numbers 31 and 33, and a well in the courtyard of 33, classified in 1996.

These buildings thus embody almost four centuries of Parisian history, mixing bourgeois housing, crafts and industrialization. Their preservation offers a rare glimpse of the architectural and social evolution of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, the historic artisanal heart of the capital.

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