Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Maison Gréber, located 63 rue de Calais in Beauvais, is a former ceramic factory of the early twentieth century. Its facade, entirely covered with tiles and bas-reliefs in ceramic stoneware, was designed in 1911 by architect Maurice Thorel. It masks an older structure in wood and torchi, typical of Beauvais. This façade served as a showcase for the productions of Charles Gréber, heir to a factory founded around 1850 by his father, Johan-Peter Gréber, an Austrian sculptor.

The factory, initially specialized in decorative vases and architectural terracotta, reached its peak under the direction of Charles Gréber from 1900. In 1911 he decorated the façade by Thorel, while his brother Henri realized the central bas-relief representing a potter at work. The company, rewarded in several universal exhibitions between 1878 and 1925, employed 28 workers in 1883, but had only 3 in 1940. After World War II, production declined, and the factory was sold in 1962 to a Citroën dealership.

Classified as a historic monument in 1979 for its façade, the Maison Gréber was purchased by the city of Beauvais in 1997. In the process of restoration, it was to become in 2001 the headquarters of the Écomusée des Pays de l'Oise. Today, neither the workshops nor the original ovens remain, but the facade still bears witness to the golden age of Beauvaisian ceramics. The original signs, such as Manufacture de grès artistiques or Architectural Decoration, recall its industrial past.

The house itself, prior to manufacture, could date from the 18th century. Johan-Peter Gréber installed his sculptor's workshop there in 1846, before developing ceramic production there from 1866. Two furnaces, built in 1868 and 1870, were destroyed, but the name Manufacture Céramique de Beauvais, adopted in 1880, continued until 1962. The history of this place thus reflects the evolution of the techniques and the arts of fire in the region.

The bas-relief in ceramic stoneware, by Henri Gréber, represents a turning worker surrounded by decorative motifs inspired by saurians. This artistic detail, combined with the innovative use of sandstone tiles to dress a facade, illustrates the local know-how. The roof, in flat plumbing tiles with Burgundy, adds a regional touch to this hybrid building, both traditional house and commercial showcase.

After 1962, the building served as a commercial office for a car garage, before being preserved for its heritage interest. The restoration undertaken at the end of the 1990s aimed to restore this place to a cultural vocation, in connection with the industrial history of the Oise. Its 1979 ranking emphasized its importance as a testimony to advertising architecture and applied arts in the early twentieth century.

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