'Les Grandes Rames', the first workers' city on the continent

Les Grandes Rames have the dubious honour of being the first working-class city on the continent. At the beginning of the 19th century, living conditions in working-class neighbourhoods were appalling. The idea of bringing workers together in the vicinity of the factories was already alive in Verviers in 1792, but was always postponed due to political turmoil.

On February 2, 1808, the mayor of Verviers, Pierre David, wrote a letter to the prefect with what he considered to be the only solution to the problem: to build a new street and build a series of houses dedicated exclusively to workers and their families. He proposed to build these 'social' houses on a piece of urban land that had fallen into disuse over the years due to the persistent way in which the population dumped its waste there. There was even talk of using the site for the centralization of manure.

On the initiative of the municipality and the industrialists Henri Guillaume Simonis and Jean-François de Biolley, the construction of the 'Grandes Rames', the first working-class district in Europe, began in 1808. Until 1835, two rows of five identical residential blocks were built in several phases. Each building had a central entrance and consisted of four floors with four rooms on each floor. Such a room was the accommodation for a family of four to six people. The space measured only 23 m2 and was lit by two windows. In total, there were about 160 rooms, good for a population of 800 people on a quarter of an acre. The attic was used as a storage area for the factory. In 1876 the houses were connected to the public water network and in 1883 the sewerage system was installed. But apparently there was no toilet in the original design!

Although the living conditions in these housing blocks were better than elsewhere in the city, the workers paid a price for this. After all, the district was under strong control of the bosses and could easily be closed off in the event of riots.

Even before the demise of the textile industry, the Grandes Rames were no longer fulfilling their original purpose. They were inhabited for a while by emigrant families and eventually all doors and windows had to be boarded up to prevent irreparable damage.

In November 1991, the Société Coopérative de Logement Social "Les Linaigrettes" bought this district. Restoration work began in 1996 and today there are about 50 well-equipped apartments. During the renovation, the following ideas and principles were taken into account, which were still new at the time:

By placing the stairwells on the outside, the residents were given as much floor space as possible.

Additional public space was created by, among other things, partially banning cars, providing parking spaces outside the residential area and by creating a clear pedestrian zone. To increase the feeling of safety, the zone was made as open as possible and the right street lighting was provided.

Each apartment consists of a living room, kitchen, bathroom and one or three bedrooms. At the time, central heating was provided, provided by the network of the L'Intervapeur steam factory.

Jan Rymenams