Les Docks de Marseille is a historical building in the heart of
La Joliette
La Joliette (; Occitan: La Jolieta) is a neighbourhood of the 2nd arrondissement of Marseille located at the start of the autonomous port of Marseille.
Overview
It contains the Docks de Marseille and Marseille Cathedral.
The area is the cen ...
, a business district in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. The building is home to 220 companies employing some 3,500 people. Various corporate headquarters, regional branches, restaurants, and services are located inside.
History
Compagnie des Docks et Entrepôts de Marseille, run by
Paulin Talabot
François "Paulin" Talabot (; 18 August 1799 – 21 March 1885), also known as Paulin-François Talabot, was a French railway and canal engineer and politician.
Educated at École polytechnique, Talabot started his career building canals. Inspire ...
, a
Corps des Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges and Roads) chief engineer, politician, and successful businessman, launched the project of Les Docks de Marseille in 1856. Built under the direction of the architect Gustave Desplaces from 1858 to 1863, Les Docks de Marseille had 4 warehouses each displaying its own courtyard as well as a management building named "Hôtel de Direction".
In 1955, Entrepôts et Magasins Généraux de Paris (EMGP) took over Compagnie des Docks et Entrepôts de Marseille. Initially, Les Docks were used as a paper and wheat storage facility, later they were equipped with refrigerated chambers and finally, they were partially restructured into offices.
SARI, managed by la Défense real estate developer Christian Pellerin, bought Les Docks de Marseille in 1991. The architect, Eric Castaldi, led a refurbishing project that transformed the warehouses into offices. Some of the work carried out included preserving the brick arches, enlarging the windows, replacing part of the roof with glass to create atriums, and adding an internal central street.
The Docks renovation into offices is amongst the achievements of
Euroméditerranée.
In 2009, the ground-floors of the Docks have been refurbished by
Alfonso Femia (with studio 5+1AA
AF517) for
Constructa Urban Systems and
JP Morgan Asset Management with
SECMO,
Garcia Engineering,
R2M and
Vinci-Dumez Méditerranée. From 2015, they have been welcoming restaurants and craft shops from the Region of Marseilles.
References
External links
*
Official website*
Le site des Docks créé Par Thierry.A d'Aix
{{coord, 43, 18, 25, N, 5, 21, 59, E, type:landmark_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title
2nd arrondissement of Marseille
Buildings and structures in Marseille