In the year 1810 (1) Emperor Napoleon I took the decision to create five slaughterhouses in Paris. But the events of 1814-1815 (his destitution and aborted attempt to return to power) delayed the implementation of this project. Tradesmen had to wait till 1818 for completion of the new facilities (2).
Prior to the end of the 18th century the City of Paris had no public slaughterhouses. Each butcher maintained his own animal killing facility adjacent to his meat stall. As there were no sewers, the blood gushed out onto the pavements. Animal fat was melted down on the spot. Documents of the time make frequent mention of conditions that, by today’s standards, are hard to fathom (3): «blood rushing into the streets, quickly coagulating under you feet, shoes gradually turning red. Strolling along, you are suddenly struck by a succession of plaintive cries. A steer is shoved to the ground, its head fastened to the floor with heavy ropes, a sledgehammer crashes down on its skull and a hefty knife thrust deeply into its throat [...] ".
It is obvious that hygiene and sanitary conditions were no particular concern to the authorities of the day.
On 9 February 1810 the Emperor Napoleon decreed:
Art. I: Five slaughtering facilities will be erected in Paris. Three will be built on the Right Bank and two on the Left Bank of the River Seine.
Art. II: Of the three facilities on the Right Bank, two will comprise 24 scalding rooms, and one 12 scalding rooms.
Art. III: The first [stone] of the five slaughterhouses to be constructed will be laid on 24 March by the Interior Minister who shall order by decree all the necessary measures.
Art. IV: The Paris butcher’s corporation shall act as prime mover for the construction of the five slaughtering facilities, at its own expense, and shall be granted exclusive use thereof. In case of the contrary, the work shall be executed with exceptional funding from the government and to the benefit thereof.
Fearing that the construction of these facilities could act negatively on its vested interests, the corporation refused to initiate the project at its own expense. As result, construction commenced under the leadership of the public authorities. By special decree it was placed under the direct responsibility of the Interior Minister.
The size of each slaughterhouse was designed to meet the requirements of the municipal districts served. The location was designated by the decree of 19 July 1810.
Hence, three facilities were erected on the Right Bank of the River Seine, i.e., the Montmartre facility near the Rochechouart gate, the Menilmontant facility near the Amandiers gate, and the Roule facility near the former Monceau Park. Two additional facilities were built on the Left Bank, i.e., the Grenelle facility near the Paillassons gate, in addition to the Villejuif, or Deux Moulins complex.
The decree of 1810 originally foresaw 90 scalding rooms for the five slaughterhouses, but this number was eventually increased to 240.
Thus, by 1818 the scalding rooms were split up among the different facilities as follows:
64 at Montmartre, 64 at Menilmontant, 32 at Roule, 48 at Grenelle, and 32 at Villejuif.
The 387 Paris butchers were distributed among the slaughtering facilities in the following numbers:
121 at Montmartre, 104 at Ménilmontant, 50 at Roule, 67 at Grenelle, and 45 at Villejuif.
As Henry Matrot explains in «Vieux Souvenirs» (Old Memories),"these slaughtering facilities were originally built for ‘retail butchers (4)’; for the simple reason that during that period wholesale merchandising was strictly prohibited. These facilities usually comprised a certain number of scalding rooms, i.e., cubicles reserved for animal slaughtering, as well as fat melting facilities and tripe handling units (5).
The Montmartre or Rochechouart facilities were built according to the design of architect Poitevin, on a lengthwise plot situated between the Avenue Trudaine and the old Paris wall (6). «It was quite tightly squeezed into the land provided, not particularly attractive and almost completely devoid of trees». The first stone was laid on 2 December 1810 by the then Interior Minister, Count Cretet. This slaughterhouse, the largest of the five in terms of slaughtering space, covered a surface area of 37,000 m².
As H. Matrot relates «it is with the Montmartre facility that the wholesale butchery business began to develop the most regularly. Among its customers, were all the non-retail butchers of nearly two thirds of those established in Paris. The Rollin school sits on one part of the land allocated.»
The Popincourt slaughterhouse, renamed Menilmontant, was built in the same period by architects Happe and Vautier:
«The Popincourt facility», writes H. Matrot, «was erected on a spacious square-shaped plot situated between the Avenue Parmentier, the rue Saint-Maur, and the rue du Chemin-Vert up to the rue Saint Ambroise. More fortunate than the Montmartre facility, it was attractively designed and included two rows of scalding rooms along the façade, a huge courtyard, handsome tree-lined passageways and a rolling, permanently green lawn placed in the midst of two sorting areas. The total surface area was 45,000 m². It was Paris’s most spacious slaughterhouse and its almost gracious layout was in sharp contrast to somber nature of its true function (7) [...].
«The wholesale trade was much less intense than at the Montmartre site. About half the scalding rooms were used by these tradesmen, the other half being reserved for retailers. The area covered by its services and regular customers operated within a perimeter extending from Les Halles (huge central market complex), rue Saint Denis, the Faubourg Saint-Martin to the old walls of Paris. It had a monopoly on Jewish customers because of the ritual animal slaughterers operating there[...] .
We learn from history that at the beginning of the Reformation in the 16th century, the land on which the slaughterhouses were built was occupied by one isolated house, just outside the city limits, where Protestants once gathered for religious services. One evening they were taken by surprise and massacred by the henchmen of the Duke of Guise and the Constable of Montmorency.
The third slaughterhouse on the Right Bank of the Seine was the smaller Miromesnil facility renamed Le Roule, which covered a surface area of 23,660 m². It was built at the end of the Avenue du Roule by architect Petit-Radel. This facility and street no longer exist
The fourth, or Invalides slaughterhouse, then called Grenelle, was built by architect Gisors, near the Sevres gate.
Some descriptions of this slaughterhouse can be found in the Paris Wholesale Butcher’s Trade Directory of 1895 which gives evidence to the love of detail shown by certain authors at the end of the 19th century:
«Just in front is the gate, and inside the slaughterhouse sits a small construction housing the famous artesian well designed by locksmith, Mulot of Epinay. Work on this well began on 24 December 1833 and the first water finally gushed out on 27 February 1841 at 2:15 p.m. Work continued for seven long years, 1 month and 26 days. The well is 547 meters deep, the water temperature 27°C, and the connecting pipe delivers 3,400,000 liters over a 24 hour span."(!)
The fifth facility, or Ivry slaughterhouse, later called Abattoir de Villejuif or Deux-Moulins, was built by architect, Le Noir near the Italie gate. It covered a surface area of 27,000 m². Further to the elimination of the Belleville facility, four scalding rooms were provided in 1872 for horse slaughtering. In 1895 seven wholesalers held rights to the scalding rooms in this facility. Eight scalding rooms were attributed for use by the Public Welfare Department (8).
Referring to the figures quoted in the Paris Wholesale Butcher’s Trade Directory, these facilities cost the Paris Town Hall approximately 18,000,000 F. They covered a surface area of 165,235 meters, i.e., 43,976 m. for structures and 121,268 m. for courtyards.
Given the increasing number of butchers, space in the slaughterhouse had to be reallocated. In 1837, the City of Paris was divided into five districts. A slaughtering facility was assigned to each one. All butchers practicing their trade in a given district were compelled to slaughter their animals in the relevant facility.
These regulations were suspended in 1857. The 501 butchers then active were distributed as follows: (9):
153 at Montmartre, 140 at Ménilmotant, 89 at Roule, 73 at Grenelle, and 46 at Villejuif.
On 24 February 1858, I, Napoleon the 3rd returned freedom of action to butchery traders by issuance of the following decree:
By the will of God and the people, I, Napoleon, Emperor of France extends greetings to everyone now and in the future:
Further to the Report of Our Minister, Secretary of State in the Office for Agriculture, Trade and Public Works,
Whereas the Laws 2-17 March, 14-17 June 1719 and 1 Brumaire of Year VII
Whereas the Laws of 14 December 1789 and 16-24 August 1790
Whereas the decree of 6 February 1811 and 15 May 1819
Whereas the law of 18 October 1829
Whereas the deliberations of the Paris Municipal Council on 19 October 1855 and 4 December 1857.
Our Council of State
issues the following decree:
Art. I: the law of 18 October I829 relative to practicing the butcher’s trade in Paris is hereby suspended.
Art. II: All individuals who wish to practice the butcher’s trade must declare to the Prefecture of Police the location and street number of the business or premises where transactions are to be carried out.
The said declaration must be renewed each time the butcher’s shop changes hands or premises. .
Art. III: Meat shall be inspected at the slaughterhouse and at entry into Paris in compliance with police regulations and without jeopardy to any of the other rights of the public authorities for guaranteeing the steady flow as well as the hygiene of meat available for sale at stalls or on the markets.
Art. IV: Meat peddling in prohibited in Paris.
Art. V: On the Paris cattle markets authorized for supplying the capital (10), a system of auctioneers (11) will be established and financed by guarantees. The duties of the auctioneer will be to receive live animals, and sale of the same by mutual agreement or by auction, according to the terms laid down by the owner.
Employment of the auctioneers will be optional. (12)
Tuileries Palace, this 24th day of February, 1858
Following this decree the number of stalls operating within the old city limits skyrocketed to such a degree that, between March 1858 and March 1859 no fewer than 131 were created.
Now, just a few words to demonstrate how, according to Henry Matrot, the wholesale butcher trade came into being:
"From 1830 to 1858 the butchery trade underwent change at a very slow pace. The monopoly was reestablished and the wholesale butchery trade remained stationary. The freedom accorded to the butcher in 1858 engendered the first leap forward, soon followed by annexing of suburban communities (1 January 1860) (13) which accelerated the movement to a much greater degree. The wholesale butchery activity more than doubled in size. It now included the butchers in the annexed areas authorized to operate in the Paris slaughterhouses along with the full gamut of workers. After a time, these tended to disappear but the butcher boys (helpers) remained. The number of scalding room helpers more than tripled. New comers started finding it hard to land jobs and the «fatigue men» were left waiting at the gate».
«From 1860 to 1867, the wholesale butchery market continued to grow. A new situation occurred; i.e. new merchants went into business. To constitute their workforce they searched for hard-working and intelligent butchers. This trend worked to the advantage of the butchers, especially for those whose boss allowed a degree of profit sharing, and encouraged visits to the market to learn about cattle purchasing. These employees eventually set themselves up in the form of retail butchers with scaling room rights. This constituted the first step which eventually led to freedom of operation for the scalding rooms (14).»
In 1859, 843,000 heads passed through Paris’s five slaughterhouses, i.e.,
400,000 at Montmartre, 240,000 at Menilmontant, 85,000 at Grenelle, 43,000 at Villejuif, and 75,000 at Roule
These five slaughterhouses were successively dismantled between 1866 and 1868 later to be replaced by the large La Villette complex opened for business l January 1867.
Work on the market and slaughterhouse of La Villette, given the green light on 20 January 1965, was executed according to the design and under the direction of architect M. Janvier according to the preliminary project of M. Baltard, Chief Architect of the City of Paris.
This facility covered a surface area of some 31 hectares. The main façade facing the rue de Flandre had nine doors for entry of vehicles and six for pedestrians. A huge gate closed it off over a length 120 m.
The main facility was crossed through lengthwise by the so-called Central Avenue in addition to a North and South Avenue. Of the 279 scalding rooms this complex was originally supposed to have, only 187 were in service in 1895. Then water issuing without limit from 250 taps, after use for washing, was collected in sewers constructed over a full 10 kilometers underneath the built-up area.
To be noted is that just less than 100 years later, on the 22nd of July 1962, Secretary of State for Domestic Trade, M. Missoffe, declared: «at La Villette sewers had only existed for a short time meaning that for decades waste had accumulated and construction took place atop six meters of dung (15).
At the outset the facilities comprised only nine animal killing spaces with roofless courtyards.
In early 1868 the Wholesale Butchers Commission, already representing the material and moral interests of the corporation, demanded that the courtyards be covered. But the Architecture department turned a deaf ear to their requests on the premise that courtyards were not meant to be places of work (16).
According to the architects’ thinking, provision of roofs was out of the question. They claimed that «accepting the butchers’ demands would spell the end of the structures. This, regardless of the fact that the syndicate clearly pointed out that the work was generally performed by scantily clad men in rainy, snowy, and windy weather, and that it was cruel to make them perform their duties without any shelter. Furthermore, the sheep workers operated right under the eaves, which was detrimental to both humans and animals. But the Commission remained adamant in its refusal.(17)
Let’s leave it to Henry Matrot to tell this story of this unrepentant bureaucracy:
« The years rolled by, and the Butcher’s Commission once again addressed the problem to M. Mathé, President of the Second Commission of the Paris Municipal Council and M. Bonnard, District Counselor […]. At a conference chaired by the Inspector General of the Municipal Tax Office, a syndicate member painted an extremely dark picture of the situation prevailing at that time […].
One of the associate architects responded in the following manner:
«As we have already said and repeat here again, what the butchers are demanding is simply outrageous. Roofing the courtyards and working in a space open to the front and back would necessarily produce deadly drafts. They tell us that the work is accomplished by half-naked men and I assure you that in these conditions they could risk death from pneumonia » (18)
But, at last, the wholesale butchers finally won out. In the meantime the recalcitrant architect retired, and the decision to start the work was taken by his successor who was much more agreeable to the concerns of the meat tradesmen.
Not only were the courtyards provided with roofing, but the troughing areas also. The struggle was a long one. The original request for roofing was formulated in 1868. Work was initiated eight years later (1876) and completed in 1894.
This was hardly a minor affair and deserves mention as it foreshadowed the subsequent actions undertaken by the future Paris Wholesale Butchers Syndicate for the defense of its interests during the entire existence of La Villette.
One last remark to end this chapter. In 1907 there was much talk about reconstruction of La Villette. This subject cropped up regularly over ensuing years but nothing ever came to fruition. The Senate inquest commission created in 1970 declared that modernization was necessary as already discussed at the beginning of the century. An initial project was devised in 1906. Others followed in 1920, 1926 and 1929, none to any effect.
As everyone knows, it was only on the 18th of December 1958 that the Paris Municipal Council voted for reconstruction of the La Villette complex.
Remarks
(1) Note that at this time, by the decree of 6 February 1811, Napoleon I created the Butcher’s Fund, later called the "Caisse de Poissy". Its purpose was provide Paris butchers with the funding required for purchasing cattle at the markets of Sceaux, Poissy and Place aux Veaux in Paris (Bernardins market).
(2) The opening of the five slaughterhouses took place subsequent to the Police Regulation of 11 September 1818 which stipulated that as of the 15th of the same month, in Paris cattle could no longer be driven to private slaughtering places.
(3) Cf. Louis-Sébastien Mercier (1740-1914), Tableaux de Paris (Portraits of Paris) (in French)
(4) Cf. Henry Matrot, Vieux Souvenirs, Paris, 1st ed. 1910, 2nd ed. 1935, p 113: "At the time of inauguration of the slaughterhouses in 1818, in Paris only retail butchers existed. The wholesale trade had not yet come into being. Each butcher was classified in the different slaughterhouses per zone. The staff of each butcher consisted of a stall chief, an assistant working in the stall and scalding room, a second stall, a second scalding room and the small fry working as meat hook collectors On opening of the stall the assistant and helper separated the pieces of meat. After lunch with the family, the assistant and helper would return to the slaughterhouse and kill animals.
(5) The Paris slaughterhouses had 2 or 4 scalding units each one consisting of 2 structures separated by a courtyard. The scalding unit was 5 m in width and 10 m. long each with two entrances. One faced the courtyard through which the animals were introduced. The other was on the outer façade to enable collection of the meat and by-products. One hundred and fifty years later the La Villette facilities remained highly similar to the five units described in this article.
(6) Writing about the famous wall of Paris, H. Matrot relates: "the butcher shops within the ancient Paris gates were special in nature and their likes never to be seen again. They disappeared with the destruction of the fortified walls surrounding the city prior to annexation of the suburban communities that occurred on 1 January 1860. The lines traced by these fortifications can still be detected by following the contour of the boulevards, now generally known, as «external». This, in spite of the fact that later they took on the names of the main city gates originally placed there, i.e., La Villette, La Chapelle, Rochechouart, Clichy, etc. This wall was built in the reign of Louis XVI to facilitate toll collection, already quite unpopular at the time. Judging from the pun Parisians are purported quote during this period, «the wall enclosing Paris made the whole town murmur (in French play on the word "mur" for wall). It comprised 56 doors or gates. Each gate was closed off by a grate and to each side there were structures used as work premises for the tax collectors and lodgings for the various agents acting on behalf of the customs authorities. (Cf.Vieux Souvenirs, p. 103)
(7) By way of anecdote, it is interesting to note that Rosa Bonheur, the famous animal portraitist, was a regular visitor to Popincourt and Roule which she considered the two handsomest slaughterhouses of Paris. Also to be recalled are the young butcher assistants or boys of Popincourt who boisterously celebrated the tree of liberty they had just planted in front of the Butcher’s Office. Henry Matrot relates that the clergy of the Saint Ambroise church came in great processional pomp to bless the tree, symbol of the new republican ideals of Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood! (Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité)!
(8) Cf. Wholesale Butchers Trade Directory or Annuaire du Commerce en Gros de la Boucherie de Paris (1895), p. 272: Some interesting information about the growth in the number of butchers can be found in .La Grande Encyclopédie , Larousse (circa 1888), Vol. 7, p. 552 : " Created on l January 1849, the central butchery of the Paris Hospitals was established at the Villejuif slaughterhouse. It comprised eight scalding rooms. Public Administration paid no rent. The meat supplied was put up for sale every year in a single group [...] . In 1888 the butchery staff consisted of a director earning 7.000 francs, a dispatch agent at 3,000 francs and office clerk at 1.400 francs, clothing provided. The remaining costs were at the expense of the purchaser, i.e., the butcher boys, linen, vehicles, etc. The year 1887 saw distribution of 1,500,337 kgs of meat at 1.09 F per kg equaling a total of 1,635,367.33F. The corresponding duties levied amounted to 170,506.13 F.; slaughtering duty 1,935 francs and general expenses 13,736 F., i.e., 1,824,629 F. [...]. The number of animals slaughtered in 1887 was: 5.869 steers; 4,434 calves, and 10,800 sheep. No lower grade product was sold by the Public Welfare. The purchaser kept the offals, skins, horns, etc."
(9) Some interesting information on how the number of butchers evolved can be found in the Grande Encyclopedie Larousse, Vol. 7, p. 551: «In Paris as elsewhere the butcher community ceased to exist after the abolition of masterships and guilds. However, the regulations were reinstated by the Consular decrees of 8 Vendemiaire Year XI (Revolutionary calendar) which established a syndicate pending authorization by the police prefect. Practice of the trade divided butchers into three categories and entailed payment of guarantees of 3,00, 2,000 or 1,000 francs. The decree of 6 February 1811 completed these provisions by limiting the number of butchers to three hundred and setting up of the so-called Caisse de Poissy (Poissy Fund) administered by the Prefect of the Seine. The purpose of this Fund was to provide cash payment for cattle purchases. The regulation of 9 October 1822 increased the number of butchers authorized to operate to three hundred and seventy. The regulation of 12 January 1825 stipulated that one hundred new authorizations would be granted between 1825 and 1827 and that limitations would cease to exist as of 1 January 1828. However, the regulation of 18 October 1829 called for a resumption of the principle of limited numbers. Four hundred stalls were authorized to operate. In practice, five hundred butchers remained in operation. In early 1847 the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament) took charge of reorganizing the meat business in Paris. In 1850 the legislature decided that an inquest should be carried out. Lanjuinais issued a report recommending a return to common law. After submittal to the Council of State and later the municipal commission, no further headway was made. A police regulation of 1 October 1855 stipulated the inception of a system of taxation. The effect produced was so negative that the decree of 24 February 1858 annulled the law of 1829 and canceled the tax as well as the Poissy Fund.’’
(10) This prohibition was discontinued by the governmental decree of 5 September1870.
(11) These might be considered the ancestors of cattle auctioneers
(12) Cf. Archives of the Prefecture of Police.
(13) According to the Paris Wholesale Butcher Trade Directory (Annuaire du Commerce en gros de la Boucherie de Paris) (1895), it was the law of 16 June 1859 which annexed to Paris the whole area situated within the old fortifications.
Also, the annexation of certain suburban communities led to the creation of three additional slaughtering facilities (Batignolles, Villette, Belleville) for covering the new municipal districts. The resulting distribution was as follows: :
Batignolles: Batignolles, Montmartre, les Ternes
La Villette: La Villette, La Chapelle
Belleville: for the former municipal district of Paris, Charonne, St-Mandé
Villejuif: for the former municipal district of Paris, Gentilly, Montrouge, lvry, Bercy
Grenelle: for the former municipal district of Paris, Passy, Auteuil, Grenelle, Vaugirard
Montmartre: the former municipal district of Paris
Le Roule: for the former municipal district of Paris
(14) Ibid. Vieux Souvenirs, p. 1 1 5.
(15) Cf – Senate Inquest Report, p. 24.
(16) Cf . Annuaire de la Boucherie en gros de Paris (Paris Wholesale Butcher’s Directory), 1935, pp. 12-13.
(17) Cf. Vieux Souvenirs, pp. 123-126 : «the moment was particularly ill chosen» writes H. Matrot, «especially considering that the architect was just about to be paid the sum of more than one hundred thousand francs as an additional fee for faultless execution of the slaughterhouses».
(18) Ibid. Vieux Souvenirs, pp. 123-126.
By Pierre Haddad- (MHR Viandes). Adapted and edited to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.
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