Dormitories for the Salvation Army

Le Corbusier – Cité de Refuge (city of refuge), Paris, France, 1929

The Cité de Refuge is a building located at 12 rue Cantagrel, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris in France. Since it was built in 1933, it has been a Salvation Army facility for reception, housing and social reintegration.
Building intended to house the general social services of the Salvation Army and a shelter for 500 people in need. The building, in addition to the housing and catering for the poor, includes a clinic, a nursery, a laundry or a warehouse for clothes and second-hand goods.It was built in 1930 on the initiative of Albin Peyron by the architect Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, and was inaugurated by President Albert Lebrun on 7 December 1933 with the name of “Refuge Singer-Polignac”.
Le Corbusier’s first large building in Paris, it expresses his ideas in terms of social housing. On the façade there are reinforced concrete slabs and on the south façade there is a continuous glass surface of one thousand square meters. In 1952, the failure of the building’s air conditioning system led to the replacement of the façade with opening windows, placed behind a series of polychrome brise-soleils. Between 2011 and 2016, the building underwent a major restoration.

The site has been listed as a historic monument since January 15, 1975. Protected areas include stairs, vestibule, interior decorations and elevations.