Godin's Familistère of Laeken

Jean-Baptiste André Godin had a factory here to make cast iron stoves on the Werkhuizenkaai. Business was good and he wanted to invest in the improvement of the lot of the proletariat that worked for him. He had a familistère built here with 72 well-equipped workers' apartments. He later had an even larger one built in Guise, France. His Familistère is inspired by the work of Charles Fourier and is an elaboration of his designed Phalanstère, a commune where workers live, work, and recreate together. Fourier assumed that people could develop themselves when they could follow their 'passions' (read: preferences) at every moment of the day in all important areas of life. Communal residents would then naturally complement each other.

Dromos