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Origin and history

The Bordeaux tobacco factory was built in 1825 in response to the decree of 1810 restoring the state monopoly on the production and marketing of tobacco. It then became the only supply structure in the Bordeaux region for a century and a half. This industrial building, designed to centralize the manufacture of cigars and tobacco powders, mainly employed women: about 600 workers worked in specialized workshops, including dryers and fermentation units.

In 1805, a tobacco factory was set up in the former hotel of the fiacres of Bordeaux, before being erected as an Imperial Manufacture in 1811. The architect Michel-Jules Bonfin designed in 1824 the monumental façade of Rodesse Square, marked by a central forebody and a triangular pediment. Expansions were made in 1825 and 1920 to modernize workshops and organize production, which reached nearly 2 million kg of tobacco processed in 1928. The manufacture, specialized in cigars from 1945, employed up to 1,684 employees in 1877, including 1,000 women.

After its closure in 1987, the site was partially preserved: only the Bonfin facade, which was listed in the Historical Monuments in 1990, escaped destruction during its conversion. The buildings now house a retirement home. At its peak, the factory produced 180 million cigars annually in 26 different presentations, illustrating its key role in the local economy and the state monopoly on tobacco.

The architecture of the site reflects its industrial evolution. The main body, with its twelve spans and its forebody, dominates Rodesse Square. The inner courtyard with peristyle, the workshops equipped with steam machines as early as 1865, and the clock building raised in 1929 show technical adaptations. Materials such as stone, coating and mechanical tile underline the functional and monumental character of the ensemble, covering 12,506 m2.

The female workforce was central to this, particularly in the manufacture of scaferlatis (snapping tobacco) and cigarettes. In 1870, the factory had 18 packers, 10 cigarette machines, and air carriers, modernized in the 20th century with humidifiers and automatic packers. The decline in activity, marked by 87 employees in 1987 compared with 1,684 a century earlier, reflects changes in the tobacco industry in France.

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