Usine Leroy, Historic wallpaper factory in Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry, France.

Usine Leroy is a former wallpaper factory complex built from 1913/14 on a 30-hectare site beside the Seine, designed by architect Paul Friesé. Its storage hall is of brick and rubble stone, part of the buildings use reinforced concrete, and a tall ribbed water tower rises from a square stone base. A concrete beam pierced with the letters "LEROY" spans one structure.

Louis-Isidore Leroy founded the wallpaper manufacture in 1842 at 59 rue La Fayette in Paris. Expropriated by the Chemins de fer de l'Est in 1912, the family bought the "Bas de la Seine" plot at Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry and had architect Paul Friesé build a larger plant, completed in 1913/14. Requisitioned under the Occupation for aircraft engines, it was bombed on 1 August 1944 and closed in 1982.

The former factory hall now houses the cultural centre Les 26 couleurs, opened in June 2011 after three years of work by the agency Philippe Prost. Its name comes from the 26-colour printing machine displayed in an exhibition room. The site also holds a theatre hall and a restaurant.

The former factory halls now house the 26 couleurs cultural centre, opened in 2011 after three years of renovation by the Philippe Prost agency. From the first floor you look out over the Seine bank, where barges once delivered coal for the plant's steam power station. The Cité Leroy workers' estate, with its 144 identical houses and gardens, stands beside the factory and is still inhabited.

The 26-colours machine, built in 1877, printed wallpaper rolls in 26 colours at once, a record at the time. Isidore Leroy showed it at the 1878 Paris World's Fair but, as a group rapporteur, could not compete; the demonstration still brought it international fame. It is listed as a monument historique objet since 23 March 2003 and stands in an exhibition room of the cultural centre.