Ancien grand magasin "Aux Dames de France"
MonumentHidden Treasure
A jewel of early 20th-century commercial architecture in Bourges, this former department stores' with its sculpted overmantels and wide windows combines elegant ashlar with industrial modernity.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
In the heart of Bourges, the former "Aux Dames de France" department stores' epitomises the architectural and commercial ambitions of the Belle Époque and the Roaring Twenties. Erected in 1905, the building's resolutely modern appearance for its time bears witness to the spread to the provinces of a Parisian model: the popular and elegant department stores', designed to appeal to a bourgeois clientele while catering for the crowds in the town centre. The first thing that strikes you is the refined sobriety of the ashlar façade, punctuated by large rectangular windows framed by sculpted trumeaux with decorative motifs inspired by Art Nouveau and neoclassical styles. This vertical, light-filled layout is reminiscent of the great Parisian commercial façades of the same period, where maximum exposure to natural light was both an aesthetic and a functional argument. The building, with its two storeys over the ground floor and an attic level, offered a generous volume, typical of the nascent temples of consumerism. Inside, the attentive visitor can still see traces of discreet luxury: the solid mahogany shelves, the passageways organised around an electric lift - a remarkable innovation for the province at the very beginning of the 20th century - and the spirit of the old reading and correspondence rooms, which made the place much more than just a shop. People came to the "Dames de France" as they would to a club: to see, to be seen, to stroll, to read the newspaper between two shopping trips. Restructured in the 1980s, the building has undergone profound internal transformations - partitioning of volumes, more shops on the ground floor - but its protected façade has retained all its integrity. The skylights that have replaced the original glass roof are a reminder of the sophistication of the original equipment. Listed as a historic monument in 2005, this building is now one of the rare provincial examples of turn-of-the-century commercial architecture, a heritage often neglected in favour of castles and cathedrals, but just as revealing of an era.
Architecture
The building is part of the trend in French commercial architecture of the early 20th century, which draws on both the neoclassical repertoire and the formal innovations of late Art Nouveau. The carefully dressed ashlar façade lends the building an urban dignity that sets it apart from purely utilitarian buildings. It is organised in vertical bays punctuated by sculpted overmantels - floral motifs, cartouches, allegorical figures - alternating with large rectangular windows that flood the upper floors with natural light, in keeping with the principle favoured by department stores' designers of the period. The volumetric composition comprises a generously proportioned ground floor, two sales floors, an attic level and two basements, with a footprint in line with the standards for establishments in this category in medium-sized French towns. The roof, which was modified during the 1980s renovation, is now pierced by skylights that replace the old zenithal glass roof - a typical feature of department stores, inherited from 19th-century covered passageways and designed to maximise the natural lighting of sales areas. Inside, although the volumes have been radically altered, certain elements still bear witness to the initial quality of the layout: the mahogany panelling of the old shelves, the load-bearing structure that allowed the open, uncluttered spaces characteristic of modern retailing, and the mechanical ventilation system powered by the same electrical machine that operated the lift - a technical feat that reveals the care taken to ensure the comfort of customers and employees from the outset of the project.
Related Figures
Fondateurs anonymes de l'enseigne « Aux Dames de France » (1905)Directeurs successifs du magasin de Bourges (1905-1980)Architecte concepteur du bâtiment (non identifié, début XXe siècle)Responsables de la société immobilière parisienne ayant racheté et restructuré l'édifice (1984-1985)
