UNESCO MINING AREA

In Douai – Frais-Marais: the presence of four miners’ housing estates, of four different designs, makes this complex an exceptional example of the provision of housing for miners and their families.

Built from 1927 onwards, the Solitude housing estate is a garden estate with houses of various shapes arranged around a vast oval square.

Neighbouring the Solitude housing estate, the Ferronnière housing estate belongs to another scholl of housing design known as pavillonnaire, with houses featuring rich decoration on the gables and facades.

In the 1950s, the Groupe de Douai built the Godion housing estate, with single-storey houses grouped in pairs.

The Saint Joseph housing estate is a small housing estate comprising 37 houses, along a single street, in a sober style.

In Guesnain: the garden cities of La Balance and La Malmaison, and the modern city of Guesnain. These elements were built for the Aniche mines’ Saint-René pit, active from 1864 to 1964.

In Auby: two mining housing estates, dating from the 1930s and attached to the Compagnie des Mines de l’Escarpelle.

Built between 1923 and 1930, the cité de la Justice is a housing estate with semi-detached houses along dead-end streets.

The Moulin housing estate is recognisable by its curved streets, along which houses with ornamental gardens are built, a typical garden estate.

Built in the 1960s by the Groupe de Douai, the health clinic is shared with the Justice housing estate and the Moulin housing estate.

In Roost-Warendin: the Cité de la Belleforière was built between 1946 and 1956 by the Groupe de Douai. This modern housing estate has semi-detached dwellings in a sober architectural style.