Deep within Lille’s historical layers lies Rue de la Briqueterie. Have you ever wondered about the origins of this street’s name?
Rue de la Briqueterie owes its name to a large brickyard. The brickyard was abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1930s the Grand Séminaire de Lille was built on its grounds.
But there is also another Rue de la Briqueterie in Brussels. It is a curved artery that connects the Rue de la Comtesse de Flandre to the Rue de Moorslede. It crosses the Rue François Lesnino on its way. The artery originated in the Chemin de la Briqueterie. It was created around 1881. It consisted of a short road perpendicular to the Rue de la Comtesse de Flandre. It extended parallel to the Rue Drootbeek. It was a simple path bordered by fields.
The road was widened to twelve meters. It was extended following its current route. This was by virtue of the royal decree of 09.07.1900. This also validated the final route of the Rue François Lesnino. However, it was not until the early 1930s that the artery was effectively developed.
The name of the street refers to a brickyard. It was probably established in the surrounding area. More broadly, it evokes the sand and sandstone extraction industries. These were formerly established in the Molenbeek valley.
The street formerly had several companies. Among them was the wood merchant D’Haeyere. It was established at the beginning of the street on the even side. This was before the First World War. Its vast storage grounds still extended to the outskirts of Rue Lesnino in the early 1930s.
In 1920, the metal box and industrial sheet metal factory François Leemans was established at number 15. This was on a plot of land ending at number 32 Rue François Lesnino. It remained in operation until the second half of the 1960s. Before 2012, it was replaced by a residential building. Also worth mentioning is the long building of the former Derbaix Frères chocolate factory at number 46. It was converted into housing in the late 2000s.
Besides the modest houses established at the first numbers of the street on the odd side in the early 1880s and some eclectic houses from the 1900s erected opposite, the rest of the street was not built with houses until the 1930s. These are bourgeois or tenement houses of Art Deco tendency. In the aftermath of the Second World War, construction picked up again with the erection of houses and apartment buildings for two decades. The street was further completed with some residential buildings from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Today Rue de la Briqueterie stands as a testament to Lille’s evolving story. From brick-making origins to a street lined with diverse architecture, it’s a place where the past and present intertwine.