Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Loebnitz was founded in 1857 by the Loebnitz family, which took over an existing faience factory. After a notable success, crowned with a gold medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1878, the company declined and closed definitively in 1935. The current building, built in 1884 by architect Paul Sédille, still houses in its basement the remains of the original furnaces.

The building, located at 4 rue de la Pierre-Levée, combines workshops and accommodation for workers. Its facade is decorated with three ceramic panels, works by Émile Lévy and Lazar Meyer, originally designed for the Fine Arts Pavilion of the Universal Exhibition of 1878. A fourth panel, added by Loebnitz, symbolizes the arts of fire and served as a sign. These elements, as well as the metal frame, have been protected as historical monuments since 2002.

Paul Sédille, an architect renowned for having designed the Spring Shops, imagined this place as a functional ensemble combining production and daily life. The ovens kept in the basements and the original structure testify to past industrial activity. The inscription to the historical monuments covers facades, roofs and metal frame, thus preserving a rare technical and artistic heritage in Paris.

The northwestern location of the 11th arrondissement, near Rue de la Pierre-Levée, reflects the industrial urbanization of the capital in the 19th century. Today, the site embodies both the Parisian artisanal heritage and the changes in the neighbourhood, between worker memory and architectural modernity.

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