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Familistère Guise
Service Reservations visits
262-263, Familistère Right Wing
02 120 Guise
The Familistère Guise or Social Palace is located in the center of the town of Guise to show that it is a model applicable in a city, the peninsula formed by the Oise. It incorporates the features of the Fourier Phalanstery. Jean-Baptiste Godin started building the Familistère in 1858. Palace Square office is marked by a statue of Jean-Baptiste André Godin, inaugurated in 1889. In a gesture of his left arm, Godin appears as a benefactor and designates the Palace and its plant.
The first residential homes are constructed in the left wing of the Palace office. It is however different today (balconies, roof Flemish) because it was demolished in 1918 and rebuilt in 1924. Will also monitor construction Central Pavilion (1865) and the right wing (1877) where dwell JB Godin. They form three parallelograms with a total of 494 dwellings. The apartments are arranged around a spacious courtyard, paved with a mosaic and covered with a canopy over three floors. Four stairs are installed at each corner of the courtyard, giving access to the apartments. Corridors (narrow passages) look like small streets linking the various apartments which are standardized to avoid hierarchies promoted in housing estates, consisting of two large rooms with two beds, a crib sound, two tables, some chairs, a cupboard and a Godin stove in cast iron. The rooms are up to 20 sqm. The light penetrates through the windows that overlook the outdoor courtyard. At each stage, points of running water, toilets and garbage chutes to make Familistériens extra comfort.
In 1858, the commissaries were also built, led by the steward. These small shops (bakery, butcher, grocery ...) allow people to eat without leaving the Familistere with products priced reduced (food is sold at cost prices). In the foreground, there was also a restaurant turned into a refreshment. Abandoned in 1969, the commissaries have now been converted into a museum. Also built the pavilion Cambrai, the last residential building the largest having 150 apartments, and flag Landrecies rising on the right bank of the Oise, a new residential building constructed in 1882.
For Godin, the education of younger children was essential. So he built the nursery and pouponnat behind the Pavilion Central hosting children from 15 days to 4 years: women could continue their work but were allowed to keep a few months. Destroyed in 1918, the nursery-pouponnat will not be rebuilt. The school was mixed and compulsory for children until the Familistère at least 14 years. Children's Day was held each year. An Italian theater, dubbed the "temple of knowledge", was also built to "educate the people of Familistère" which served mainly to representations of students, general lessons or for entertainment and performances ... The construction materials used were iron, wood and metal. Originally, the seats were mere benches and the room could well contain a thousand people. A bandstand was also built in 1860 in the middle of the park.
The laundry-laundry-pool or pool is located on the right bank of the Oise. The laundry is prohibited in the apartments, built in 1870 Godin laundry where sophisticated machines were installed. A system of hot water produced by steam engines enabled the foundry laundry which then dried. Baths and showers were also installed. Learning to swim for Godin was a contribution to hygiene and health Familistériens. A pool of 50 m² and 2.50 m deep to allow children to swim safely through a system that allowed to lower and raise the floor of the pool. Abandoned in 1968, the laundry pool will undergo a major restoration in 2004.
Godin had also planned a garden of 1.2 hectare, located on the right bank of the Oise between the plant and the Social Palace. It allowed factory workers to rest during the break and was also a small vegetable garden that becomes an educational workshop and supply of Familistère vegetables. Statues, basins and benches are arranged in the park. A greenhouse is built in the 1900s. In 1889, at the north end of the garden is a mausoleum erected over the grave of Jean-Baptiste Godin and Marie Moret. It consists of a stone obelisk blue where the effigy of Godin, symbolizing progress, surrounded by two allegories, Work and Family, one represented by a molder of the plant and its Godin attributes (ladle foundry) and the other by a mother holding a baby in her arms.
Godin The factory still producing cast iron stoves and in recent years cast iron cookware. These cast products were also used in the apartments of Familistère (in the apartments, there were ranges Godin ...). At the height of Familistère Guise, the plant had 1500 workers.
Sources:
http://www.larousse.fr
http://www.familistere.com
