Ancien logement des Soeurs de la cité n° 12 de la compagnie des mines de Lens dite Saint-Edouard
Monument
Ancien logement des Soeurs de la cité n° 12 de la compagnie des mines de Lens dite Saint-Edouard, located in Lens (Pas-de-Calais), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Lens, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.4423, 2.8105
- Mérimée Reference
- PA62000089
In the heart of the Saint-Édouard housing estate in Lens, the Sisters' former home bears witness to the paternalistic social planning of the mines of the North, a discreet masterpiece of an era when coal and faith built entire communities.
History
Nestling in the heart of the Saint-Édouard mining estate, one of the most ambitious urban developments of the Compagnie des Mines de Lens, this house of the Sisters is a precious link in a coherent and rare architectural ensemble. Listed as a Historic Monument since 2009, this late 19th-century building is the very embodiment of the paternalistic philosophy that drove the major mining companies in the Pas-de-Calais basin: to house, educate, care for and morally support a working-class population that was exploding in numbers. What makes this building truly unique is that it is part of a harmonious architectural ensemble designed as a town within a town. The church, the presbytery, the school complex, the management accommodation and the Sisters' house form an almost intact urban composition, rescued from the destruction of the Great War and then rebuilt with remarkable fidelity to the original layout. The Sisters who lived there taught girls and looked after the families of miners, weaving an inseparable link between architecture, education and the Catholic faith. To visit this site today is to walk through the strata of an industrial and human memory of rare density. The visitor immediately perceives the rigour of the overall plan: rectilinear alleys lined with houses, carefully ordered gardens, and at the centre of this geography of work, the religious and educational building that structured the daily lives of thousands of families. The Sisters' accommodation, sober and functional, stands in silent dialogue with the Cordonnier church and the school wings rebuilt after 1918. The setting of the Cité Saint-Édouard, part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coalfield that has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012, gives this monument international resonance. A stroll along the cobbled, brick-lined streets is an opportunity to understand how, stone by stone, brick by brick, a mining company shaped an entire society, with its beliefs, hierarchies and bonds of solidarity.
Architecture
The Sisters' dwelling is in keeping with the architectural vocabulary typical of mining buildings in the Pas-de-Calais in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: an eclectic, predominantly neo-Gothic or neo-regionalist style, marked by the use of local red brick, the preferred material in the northern coalfield. The building has a sober, functional layout, dictated by its institutional and religious vocation: clear volumes, rhythmic openings, steeply pitched roofs covered with tiles or slate depending on the post-war reconstruction. The reconstruction of 1924 introduced a few material variations from the original state, without altering the interior layout or the general decorative scheme: slightly different window surrounds, brickwork adapted to new building practices. The building nevertheless retains discreet decorative elements - stringcourses, cornices, stone or ornamental terracotta details - that distinguish it from the simple working-class houses in the surrounding area and affirm its special status in the hierarchy of the housing estate's buildings. Integrated into an urban fabric carefully planned by Élie Reumaux, the Sisters' dwelling is part of the overall composition that gives the site its value: alignment of facades, relationship between built spaces and school gardens, perspective with the Cordonnier church and its annexes. It is precisely this urban coherence, rare at this level of conservation, that justified the building's protection as a Historic Monument and gives it an exemplary heritage dimension.
Related Figures
Élie Reumaux — ingénieur de la Compagnie des mines de Lens, concepteur du plan d'ensemble de la cité Saint-Édouard en 1896Louis-Marie Cordonnier — architecte lillois de renom, auteur de l'église de la cité en 1899 puis de sa reconstruction en 1924Louis Croïn — architecte co-concepteur avec Cordonnier de la première église de la cité (1899)Les Sœurs enseignantes — congrégation religieuse chargée de l'instruction des filles et de l'encadrement des familles de mineurs dans la citéDirecteurs successifs de la Compagnie des mines de Lens — commanditaires et gestionnaires de l'ensemble du programme paternaliste
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ancien logement des Soeurs de la cité n° 12 de la compagnie des mines de Lens dite Saint-Edouard located?
Ancien logement des Soeurs de la cité n° 12 de la compagnie des mines de Lens dite Saint-Edouard is located in Lens, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Ancien logement des Soeurs de la cité n° 12 de la compagnie des mines de Lens dite Saint-Edouard built?
Ancien logement des Soeurs de la cité n° 12 de la compagnie des mines de Lens dite Saint-Edouard dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Ancien logement des Soeurs de la cité n° 12 de la compagnie des mines de Lens dite Saint-Edouard open to visitors?
Ancien logement des Soeurs de la cité n° 12 de la compagnie des mines de Lens dite Saint-Edouard is currently closed to visitors.