La Cité de Refuge is a building in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

. It was designed for the Salvation Army and opened in 1933. Since that time it has been occupied by the French

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

. The building, one of Le Corbusier's first urban housing projects, was designated a National Historical Monument of France in 1975.

History

La Cité de Refuge was Le Corbusier's third building for the Salvation Army. It was built between 1929 and 1933 on 12 rue Cantagrel in the

13th arrondissement of Paris The 13th arrondissement of Paris (''XIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris. In spoken French, the arrondissement is referred to as ''le treizième'' ("the thirteenth"). The arrondissement is ...

. The first design meeting occurred in May 1929, and the cornerstone was laid in June 1930. This was the most ambitious and complex building to be designed and erected by Le Corbusier at this early stage of his career. In order to register for the night, would-be clients of the Salvation Army have to pass through what

Kenneth Frampton Kenneth Brian Frampton (born 20 November 1930) is a British architect, critic and historian. He is regarded as one of the world's leading historians of modernist architecture and contemporary architecture. He is an Emeritus Professor of Archit ...

describes as a "'Still Life' assembly of Platonic forms," which "affords the possibility of a rite of passage." The building consists of a single long slab block containing cellular accommodation at an angle to Rue de Cantagrel fronted by the free standing sculptural elements containing communal facilities such as reception hall, dining room, and administrative offices. The facade of the building was problematic from the beginning. It was designed to be a sealed 10,000 sq.ft glass facade with forced air ventilation. The system never worked correctly and was difficult to control. The facade was severely damaged by bombing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. One bomb in particular, dropped August 25, 1944 in front of the building by the Germans, shattered all of its glass facade. Pierre Jeanneret oversaw repairs to the facade, the addition of a

brise soleil Brise, Brisé or Briše may refer to: * Brisé (dance), a type of jump in ballet * "Brisé" (song), Maître Gims 2015 *Brisé (music), Style brisé (French: "broken style"), Baroque music Places * Briše, Kamnik, Slovenia * Briše pri Polhovem G ...

between 1948 and 1952 and the replacement of the windows to the roof pavilions. The building was partially restored in 1975. The building underwent extensive renovations beginning in 2007, with the work completed in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cite de Refuge Le Corbusier buildings in France Buildings and structures completed in 1933 Buildings and structures in Paris Salvation Army buildings Monuments historiques of Paris 20th-century architecture in France