From the Godin factory to the docks center

Starting in 1840, the French industrialist Jean-Baptiste André Godin revolutionized the domestic use of heating. His cast-iron stoves, considered the very first mass-produced products in the world, allow for a more uniform and efficient distribution of heat, at an affordable price. In 1858, after an initial establishment in Forest Godin, he acquired a vast plot of land on the bank of the canal, at 158 quai des Usines, in order to set up a branch of his Guise foundry. An adept of social ideas, Godin is attentive to the working and living conditions of the working class. With this perspective, in 1887, inspired by the familistery he built in Guise, Godin had the complex built in Laeken where people working for him lived without distinction of status, as well as Godin himself. The building takes the form of a vast quadrilateral grouping, around a covered central courtyard, 72 housing units and collective facilities, such as a primary school, a laundry room, a grocery store. In 1970, the last inhabitants left the premises following the closure of the factory. In 2008, the Mestdagh group took over this partially abandoned site to set up a vast commercial complex.