“I’ve lived in Michelis for 90 years, smiles Henri Grivot. The city was built in 1934, I was 8 years old when we moved in with my parents and my five brothers and sisters. We lived in apartment 9.” At 98 years old, this former worker and supervisor at Rivoire et Carret (formerly Lustucru) is the dean of this small neighborhood of HBM (Cheap Housing) with clean lines designed in 1934 by the architect Gaston Castel.
At the time, a certain number of them worked at the pasta factory, located a few hundred meters further down. “My sister entered at 13, me at 16 and then there was my brother, after the war, on his return from captivity“, continues the old man, while showing off his parents’ first gas and electricity bills which he has carefully kept. “Urban legend has it that the owner of the pasta factory contributed to the construction of this city, but there is no proof of this. recalls historian Judith Aziza. But what is true is that these neighborhoods, where the residents had everything on site, were a way for the employers to better control the workers.“.
