Les Maisons Bérard

The Bérard houses (20th century)
Apart from simple workers' houses, houses decorated with ceramics or houses with neo-gothic or Art Nouveau or Art Deco accents, the buildings constructed in Migennes according to the Bérard process are noteworthy.

This architect developed an economical and artistic reinforced concrete construction system for which he registered patents. This system made it possible to design any building using reinforced cement elements previously poured into cast iron moulds and produced in series. The modules fit together and are linked by a system of metal rods passed through ducts where the concrete is poured to make them solid. The keys and links, visible on the facade, create a decorative specificity, Bérard's signature.
The man, with a strong social conscience, wanted to make architecture accessible to all. He entrusted his artistic prefabrication to a mason and a mosaicist from Migennes. 18 houses, from the most basic to the most luxurious, make the town a nursery for Edouard Bérard's inventive architecture

3, 2, 1, go! Follow the tour of the Bérard houses available at the Migennois Tourist Office and on www.tourisme-migennois.fr !