City of Bezance

The Bezance housing estate is a worker’s housing estate built between 1960 and 1962. It led to a new type of individual house, nicknamed "type Bezance", the latest model proposed by the Michelin plant.

From the early 20th century, industrialisation in the area raised the issue of worker housing. In 1909, the Michelin plant founded the Michelin society for low-cost staff housing, charged with building housing estates for workers. Building of the first estate was launched at Pré-la-Reine in Clermont Ferrand in 1910. There are 27 Michelin estates still existing on the territory.

The Michelin housing estate in Bezance, with 153 individual houses and 104 apartments in two buildings, was built between 1960 and 1962. It led to the emergence of a new type of housing, known as “Bezance”. This individual house model is the latest proposed by Michelin. It was designed by architect Daniel Michelin, grandson of André Michelin, one of the two founders of the plant. This architect was known for his work on social housing projects with green spaces, which is what was done here. Double houses were adjoined in lines. They were all arranged in clusters of around twenty housing units around small squares. They could be built in “Castor” mode, with workers helping to build their houses which they would then own, and with plans and technical supervision provided by the company.