Église Saint-Louis de Tourcoing, Catholic church in Épidème, France

The Église Saint-Louis de Tourcoing is a neo-Romanesque brick church with a three-aisle plan and no transept. Its symmetrical facade is dominated by a square porch tower with a slate spire, a white clock face, and stone pinnacles at the outer corners. The interior has a rib-vaulted nave with pointed arches on slender columns, white plaster walls, and five 1900 stained-glass windows by the Lorin workshops of Chartres depicting the life of Saint Louis.

Tourcoing's textile industry swelled the Épidème district to about 3,500 residents by the 1890s, and a parish dedicated to Saint Louis was created there in 1895 from parts of Saint-Christophe and Sacré-Cœur. Louis Croïn designed the church in 1892; the first stone was laid in 1894, the building and presbytery were given to the town in 1895, the church was blessed in 1896 and the tower built in 1897. Deindustrialisation impoverished the area, and crumbling vaults forced closure in 2002; after the town's demolition plan met opposition from the Bâtiments de France, it was sold to a private owner in June 2011 for 20,000 euros.

The parish, founded in 1895 and dedicated to King Louis IX, was carved out of the territories of Saint-Christophe and Sacré-Cœur. Five stained-glass windows made in 1900 by the Lorin workshops of Chartres depict the life of Saint Louis. The association L'essence et les sens du lieu now runs social and local activities in the building.

The former church opens to the public during the Journées du patrimoine, held on the third weekend of September, and on other open-house days. Outside these dates access is not guaranteed, so arrange a visit in advance. The building stands in the Épidème district, in the eastern part of Tourcoing.

The buyer was a charpentier-couvreur and Compagnon du Devoir who paid €20,000 in June 2011 after the Bâtiments de France blocked demolition. He turned the church into a chantier école training school dropouts in carpentry, masonry and cabinetmaking. In 2017 he also bought the threatened Saint-Gérard church in Wattrelos.