Grasse and the chimneys

Industrial chimneys are dotted around the environs of Grasse’s old town, with their presence indicating how the fragrance industry developed. The old process of enfleurage didn’t need them, so there are none in the old town. The same applies to later techniques, starting with extraction by chemical solvents, so generally there are also none on the Plan de Grasse, where much of the industry has migrated.

But when perfumeries introduced steam distillation in the later nineteenth century, new factories had to be built (or existing buildings radically adapted) and, to keep the workforce near at hand in the days before adequate public transport, they were mostly established around and near the old town. So even though other evidence of their activity has mostly disappeared, the chimneys of manufacturers like Roure-Bertrand, Bérenger Jeune, Muraour/Sornin and Sozio still mark their ghostly presence. Even the long-disused chimney of the Fragonard building still stands.

No doubt the chimneys owe their survival to its being more expensive, on fairly cramped sites, to demolish than preserve them. It doesn’t always apply, as this photo from 2002 (photographer Philippe Lauly) of the chimney of the Lautier factory in the Rossignol valley graphically demonstrates!

As you can see from my map, there are no chimneys left in the valley Rossignol and north of the town today. Looking at the survivors elsewhere one by one:

Sozio

This site dates from 1891, when Honore Sozio, who had taken over a perfumery dating from the eighteenth century located in the old Augustine priory (now commemorated in the rue des Augustins) on the edge of the old town, created a new factory on agricultural land nearby. The enterprise was run by the Sozio family until 1982, when, like so many family businesses at the time, it was sold to a large organization wanting a position in perfumes, in this case a French group called Protex. The site was finally closed as late as 1996, when Protex moved its activity to Paris.

Chimneys of Sozio (left) and Bérenger Jeune (right)

It’s now a nice-looking apartment block and one of my ‘hidden perfumeries’, but the chimney survives. It can still be seen today on the avenue Ste-Lorette, along with that of Bérenger Jeune.

Bérenger Jeune

Like Sozio, this is a perfumery originating in the old town (right on the main rue Droite in fact in a building which was until very recently the town’s Médiathèque), which moved to Saint Lorette in 1906 on a site directly below that of Sozio. In 1920, it was taken over by Messrs Camilli, Albert et Laloue, known as CAL, who developed an additional and larger site at Saint-Claude, which has now completely disappeared. CAL was eventually bought in 1963 by the American company, Pfizer (then a chemicals conglomerate rather than the pharmaceutical giant it eventually became) and both sites were closed in the 1990s. The Saint Lorette site, like its neighbour, is now residential but without the charm of the ex-Sozio building.

Fragonard

Like so many, what is today the Fragonard building has changed ownership over the years, but unlike the majority it remains locally owned and managed (see my blog here).

It was built for the perfumer Fargeon in about 1840, later became Cresp-Martinenq, and was bought by Eugene Fuchs, who re-branded it as Fragonard, in 1925. Its chimney, quite modest by local standards, can be seen on the north eastern side of the building.

Fragonard (left) and Hughes Ainé (right)

Nearby, there is also the stump of a chimney which was once part of the Hugues Ainé factory on rue Mirabeau.

Robertet

The first Robertet perfumery was on avenue Chiris; Robertet & Cie was originally a Paris company which took the premises over in about 1881but then moved to their site on avenue Sidi-Brahim in 1897. The name is rather misleading: the company has actually been managed and, since the 1920s controlled, by the Maubert family. Along with Mane, it is one of Grasse’s two great family managed fragrance and flavours enterprises, in Robertet’s case ranking seventh in the world in the sector, with over 2,500 employees. The Sidi-Brahim site is still its headquarters, and it has another large site on the Plan de Grasse.

Roure-Bertrand

Although on the edge of the old town, this site also seemingly originated in a religious building, to which first a distillery, with a chimney, was added in around 1865 and then a whole range of other buildings were constructed as the site and company expanded. Jean Roure also had a grand family house built on bd Carnot, sadly replaced in the sixties by a modern block of apartments. Roure-Bertrand was acquired by the giant Swiss chemical company Hoffmann-La Roche, in 1964, which already owned the Givaudan company. In 1991 Givaudan and Roure were merged to form Givaudan-Roure, which was itself spun off in 2000 as Givaudan AG – now the largest company is the sector world-wide.

The Grasse site closed in 1998 but good management on the part of the town has meant most of the site's historic buildings have been retained, re-used and look very impressive.

Main building of the Roure site, with chimney behind

It is listed as a historic monument.

Muraour, Sornin and Cauvi

This site, now used as a depot by the town and looking fairly thoroughly decrepit from avenue Pierre Sémard, has had a very mixed history. The original perfumery, known as H. Muraour and dating from 1790 was established here in 1907, like so many in the environs of the old town; it included the brick chimney still to be seen on avenue Pierre Sémard. This drawing from Muraour's stationery in 1930 shows a stylised image of its presence in Grasse, including a heavily smoking chimney!

After Muraour went bust, it was taken over by Rene Sornin, who later joined up with three members of the Cauvi family to develop a successful business. Cauvi eventually closed the site in the 1980s and it is now used by the town.

However, that was not before the Cauvis in the mid-1960s built a new steam generation plant in the valley below to supply several perfumeries in the immediate area, and that is why there is a 70 metre modern chimney nearby, next to the station area.

Chimney of the centralised steam generation plant.

Just recently, the town has successfully applied for support to redevelop the whole area, named quite appropriately ‘L’Îlot Cauvi/Prouvé’ under a national scheme called Réinventons nos cœurs de villes (‘let’s re-invent the hearts of our towns’). It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens next.