The abandoned workshop
The abandoned workshop

The abandoned workshop

The abandoned workshop

The day I've missed the chance to get a new friend

This is the story of the saw manufacturing industry where methods have not changed for decades. The result is this building that has certainly been enlarged over the years, but the interior has retained its old-fashioned charm. You should know that the manufacture of saws requires a mechanical process, but also handcrafted. The expertise of the workers is therefore crucial and above all, a guarantee of quality. On paper, manufacturing is relatively straightforward: take a steel sheet, round cut and then hammered. But in reality, the number of machines required makes its manufacturing a little more complex.

The building is associated with its most important occupant where its adventure start in 1891 with the creation of the company. Built in 1880, the building will be first used by a merchant and shopkeeper in the city. In 1911, the building served as a warehouse which then is bought and converted into a workshop. We will install the pulleys on the ceiling (which are still there today), add a forge (which has since been replaced, but whose remains are still there) and the building will be expanded over the years.

One of the most interesting parts of the workshop is definitively the boss office. On the one side, a glass wall to keep an eye on operations and on the other site, cabinets who looks like a sacristy with an old phone booth in the corner where the boss go for its calls when the noise was too loud in the factory.

In the attic, there is a lot of old stuff like fifty years old typewriters, mussels piled in old wooden boxes and old parts of any kind.

True witness to a century of mechanical production but also small-scale, the building is now listed as cultural heritage. Abandoned for a new, larger and more modern workshop, the building is now on sale, waiting for a new destiny which, hopefully, will not pass through its demolition. Demolition also desired by neighbors who see a fire risk (the entire building is wood) rather than a piece of history of this city.

"If you think it's beautiful, you and I won't be friends" said the neighbour half-comic half-serious ... Unfortunately, my visit has concluded without a new friend!

Related content

The Coal mine of Hasard de Cheratte
Cheratte, (Belgium)

The Coal mine of Hasard de Cheratte is the main colliery of Société anonyme des Charbonnages du Hasard, composed of four mine shafts. It is located in Cheratte, a section of the Belgian town of Visé located in the Walloon Region in the province...

The abandoned Hermes Paper Factory/Recycling Center
Düsseldorf, (Germany)

Normally on Easter Sunday one spends time his or her family, however on this particular Easter a friend and I decided to wake up early and do some Urban Exploration.

What is great about living in Germany is that there are several abandoned...

Façade under a grey sky
Montréal, Quebec (Canada)

Hochelaga-Maisonneuve has been deeply marked by the train, in its development. Even today, it is surrounded by three tracks : the Canadian Pacific to the west, the now abandoned Canadian National to the east and the one of the port of Montreal to...

The old and abandoned mine

Heavily damaged by the time, the old copper mine is closed for several years. While its lower floors are completely flooded with muddy and stagnant water, the ground floor was, meanwhile, weakened by a sedimentary rock ceiling that collapsed in...