Inspired by the tradition of Social Catholicism, Cité-jardin du Chemin Vert is a garden city founded in 1922, on the initiative of Reims industrialist Georges Charbonneaux. The design was ground-breaking for the period and comprised houses which, coupled with community facilities and a church, offered decent living conditions for large families. Even today, it is regarded as a prototype French garden city.
The Chemin Vert Garden City exemplifies the social housing that was emerging at the same time as the Champagne development process on Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims. It forms part of the Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars included on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
In 1912 a group of Reims industrialists - including Champagne producers Louise Pommery and Joseph Krug - founded the Foyer Rémois, an affordable housing agency spearheaded by Georges Charbonneaux. Its aim was to improve the standard of housing for working-class families in Reims. In the aftermath of World War 1, the Foyer Rémois built 617 small houses based on 14 different designs intended to break up the monotony of the landscape. The architect was Jean-Marcel Auburtin who was also the co-founder of the Société française des Architectes Urbanistes (French Society of Urban Planners).
The area is laid out around a large square where the main community facilities were located (gym, children's centre with a home economics school, day nursery, clinic etc.). A community centre, completed in 1925, housed social and cultural facilities (library, meeting rooms, community hall with capacity for 500 people etc.). Building work began on the church in 1923. Classified as a historic monument, it was decorated by some of the major artists of the period including Maurice Denis, René Lalique (a native of Aÿ) and Gustave Jaulmes.
The Chemin Vert Garden City holds Architecture contemporaine remarquable (Outstanding contemporary architecture) status, and is still owned to this day by the Foyer Rémois, which is bringing this example of social housing into the 21st century, while conserving its authenticity as a heritage site.
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Tourist Office - 6, rue Rockfeller - 5100 Reims
Tel.: +33 3 26 77 45 00
