You probably already know that the échoppes are part of the architectural heritage of Bordeaux… But what you may know less about is the story surrounding these buildings so typical of the Bordeaux landscape.
Let me tell you a bit more…
Before becoming an adjustment variable in Bordeaux urbanism, the échoppe had a social function (you could have doubted it, given the prices these houses have been trading at lately).
Indeed, these houses were once workers' and craftsmen's homes. It was during the Third Republic (1870-1940) that the Bordeaux urban fabric became much denser: the industrialists and developers of the time hit a shortage of manpower and built these houses to keep the workers already employed in their businesses loyal.
The échoppe has at least a door and a window (simple échoppe), most often facing the street. The traditional échoppe has no upper floor but often a small garden at the back, sometimes turned into a glass-roofed room to gain living space. It is built in Bordeaux stone (a limestone that largely earned Bordeaux its nickname « belle endormie », I dedicated an article to it HERE). Ceilings are usually high, the door heavy and ornate, capped with tiles.
The workers' house I describe here feels very far off, because today the Bordeaux échoppe is a sought-after investment. It has become a « bourgeois » home. Raised, rebuilt, modernised… It often has little in common anymore with its origins.
Thousands of échoppes have been destroyed as the ogre-city of Bordeaux swallowed more and more space. For example, the Mériadeck district was built on the ruins of former échoppes.
The Bordeaux échoppe is a magnificent heritage, a piece of history worth preserving.
