"The slaughterhouse" - Châlons-en-Champagne site
The services of the DRAC Grand Est de Châlons-en-Champagne occupy the site of a former slaughterhouse from the middle of the 19th century.
A slaughterhouse built in XIXe century
The first public slaughterhouse of Châlons-en-Champagne was established, by a royal authorization of November 17, 1824, located not far from the present cemetery of the West and touching the bridge of the Mariniers, on a walled land called «La Tuerie», which existed from the XVIIIe century.
It was there that a first public slaughterhouse was established, under royal authorization on 17 November 1824, by the architect Prévoteau. He was transferred to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine forty years later.
The location of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, chosen by the municipal council on June 14, 1859, made it possible to move slaughterhouses away from dwellings and the proximity of the canal favoured the disposal of sewage.
The architect Vagny drew up the estimate in 1859. The slaughterhouse began to operate in 1862, but the work was not completely completed until 1864. The construction cost 180,000 francs.
Architectural presentation
Great care has been taken in the construction of this set of technical buildings, whose layout is innovative and whose decoration, using alternating chalk and brick, is also remarkable.
The chalk walls are insulated from the ground by a millstone base. The bay surrounds are made of brick. The covers (except the open courtyard) are made of mechanical tile.
The entrance to the slaughterhouses is flanked by two twin pavilions, on the left the grant, on the right the concierge’s house.
At the bottom, the kettle topped by its brick chimney (destroyed in XXe century).
The butcher’s department is on the left, including the covered work yard bordered by the killings (the twelve boxes corresponding to the number of Shawl butchers), and parallel to the stables, bouveries and sheepfolds.
To the right of the entrance were the sausages, with first the scald, then the grill (arcaded building) and the pig huts (now disappeared).
DRAC Installation
After the closing of slaughterhouses in the 1970s, the acquisition of this complex of buildings in 1988 by the Ministry of Culture and its restoration to set up the headquarters of the regional directorate of cultural affairs of Champagne-Ardenne, have allowed the reuse and conservation.
In 1996, a first 660 m² expansion of offices allowed to host the Regional Service of Archaeology.
The third extension of the Champagne-Ardenne Regional Cultural Affairs Directorate, whose work began in 2003, was completed in December 2005. It created an additional 1039 m².
The new building, designed by architects Bléhaut and Roubert, is integrated into its architectural and landscaped environment, while clearly marking the legibility between the renovated buildings and the new construction.
On 1er January 2016, as part of the reform of the territorial administration that accompanies the merger of the regions, the Regional Directorates of Cultural Affairs of Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine form a single DRAC: The Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs Grand Est.
The site of Châlons-en-Champagne now hosts local services and the management of the Heritage Pole and shares the spaces with other State services in the region (DREAL, then DRAAF currently).