Carouge, from market gardens to industrial estate

Campus Pictet de Rochemont · 19 ago 2024

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As work to daylight the Drize river progresses, let's take a look back at a period when the river was channelled to facilitate the urbanisation of Geneva.

The laundry and dye works in the Rue des Epinettes (150 m from Pictet's current headquarters on the Route des Acacias), circa 1970. © Bibliothèque de Genève

In the 1950s, the authorities decided to create an industrial zone in the Acacias and Praille districts. The construction of the La Praille railway station became a significant driving force, with 21 companies moving into the area in just two years.

Transitioning from a predominantly agricultural area with market gardens, small businesses, and a few villas, the urban landscape changed radically. Companies in the automotive (Motosacoche), watchmaking (Rolex), tobacco (British American Tobacco), and food industries (Chirat, Laiteries Réunies) coexisted with smaller entities such as laundries (Blanchisserie des Epinettes, see photo), body shops, and mechanical and design workshops. Some of these companies, such as Rolex, are still based here today.