Ancien sanatorium Villemin

English translation

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History

In 1890, the Public Assistance authority decided to build the first French public sanatorium for the poor populations of Paris. In a context of fighting tuberculosis - the 'white plague' was in the 19th century the leading cause of mortality in France and Europe - French phthisiologists sought alternatives to the treatment of patients in city hospitals, which accelerated contagion without allowing recovery. The architect Henri Belouet was commissioned to propose, based on the model of German establishments which he studied during a trip in 1892, a facility in open country allowing patients to benefit from a cure of air, sun, rest and overfeeding. The plateau of Angicourt was selected, as it was situated some sixty kilometres north of the capital and benefited from water resources and the sunlight necessary. Built between 1894 and 1900, the Villemin sanatorium became a laboratory of experiments both for the architectural programme, for administrative organisation, and for treatment protocols. In the years following its inauguration on 26 October 1900, it was the subject of numerous articles published in specialist medical journals, echoes of the lively debates which this new approach in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis sparked in France. Well documented by these publications, by editions of postcards but also by an archive collection preserved by the AP-HP, the Angicourt site is a precious witness to the understanding of the making of the sanatorium prototype in France, appropriating German innovations while adapting them to the specificities of the national public health system. It thus established the system of patient pavilions in a U shape, open to the south, with an external cure gallery, under a marquee, adjoining the ground floor dedicated to communal spaces, and bedrooms and sanitary facilities on the upper floors, served by a corridor on the north side. Patients thus benefited from a resting place sheltered from winds, with maximum sunlight. The numerous service buildings (administration, refectory, kitchen, engine room, laundry, water tower, morgue, sheds and stables) as well as staff accommodation were laid out, according to an ordered plan, away from the patient pavilions, for obvious reasons of hygiene, but also so that their activities would not disturb the peace of the patients. Finally, a large wooded park allowed patients to practise various physical activities (walks, gardening, games), whose duration and intensity was determined by their state of health. The Villemin sanatorium was also a place of research - both fundamental and applied - into the treatment of tuberculosis, carried out by successive chief physicians. The examinations and treatments offered to tuberculous patients evolved with discoveries, including among others the installation by Dr Georges Küss of an artificial pneumothorax. The realisation of the Villemin sanatorium thus inaugurates the first phase of construction of a series of sanatoriums, private and public, in the early years of the 20th century, which would draw lessons from the difficulties encountered at Angicourt and thus contribute to the evolution of these singular hospital establishments. Belouet's initial plan, comprising two patient pavilions - one for each sex - was only partially built in 1900, due to lack of financial resources. After the First World War, the construction of the second pavilion, named Varenne, was decided, allowing in 1928 to double the number of available beds. This second phase testifies to the new national policy favourable to the fight against tuberculosis, which led to the construction or enlargement of numerous sanatorium cure facilities throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The architect Louis Masson respected the original plan, while adapting the architectural approach to the tastes of his era: he proposed an elevation in bi-chrome brick and concrete, which stood out from the classical sobriety tinged with regionalism of the first Letulle pavilion. If the Villemin sanatorium does not distinguish itself by exceptional or spectacular architecture, it nonetheless remains that the ordonnance of the overall plan, the coherence of all the built elements, the monumentality and elegance of the two pavilions open onto the great Angicourt landscape, the care taken over the details of the architectures as well as the quality and modernity of the technical installations are still striking to this day, despite the abandonment of the site for more than twenty years. If the site has undergone developments, notably from the 1960s onwards and its transformation into a centre for elderly people, these consisted mainly in the addition of new service buildings. Thus, the historic buildings of the 1900s and then 1920s did not undergo notable transformations, whether in their external appearance or in their internal layout. Although heavily ruined, the original buildings thus remain legible.