Garage Citroën, Historic automotive garage in 7th arrondissement, Lyon, France
Garage Citroën is a reinforced-concrete building on Rue de Marseille in Lyon's 7th arrondissement, 130 m long and 52 m wide, with a ground floor and five upper floors. Its pale curved corner carries metal letters spelling "CITROËN", and a glazed projecting bay shows a red double-chevron logo. Jean Prouvé made the glass roof, ramps, balustrades, metal doors and lift cabins.
The building was constructed between 1930 and 1932 under architect Maurice-Jacques Ravazé, who led Citroën's architectural department at the time. It was listed as a historic monument in 1992 and stands as significant evidence of industrial architecture from that era.
The name comes from André Citroën's firm, which built the garage as one of about twenty similar structures in 1930s France; the Lyon one was the largest. The ironwork of the glass roof, ramps, balustrades, metal doors and lift cabins is by Jean Prouvé. The monumental main door was reinterpreted from Prouvé's drawings by architect Charlotte Vergély during the 2013-2015 works.
The building occupies the block between Rue de Marseille and the surrounding streets in Lyon's 7th arrondissement, and its 130-metre facade can be viewed from the public pavement. The ground floor is occupied by a Lidl supermarket of 2,300 m², while the upper floors hold offices and parking; the Art Deco hall and Jean Prouvé's ramps are inside the rehabilitated sections.
The claim to be the world's largest service station dates from its 1932 opening, when the garage could hold a thousand cars. Of about twenty Citroën buildings of this style erected in mainland France in the 1930s, the Lyon garage was the most imposing and is the only one still standing.
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