CHOISY-LE-ROI / H.BOULENGER (manufacture)

CHOISY-LE-ROI / H.BOULENGER (manufacture)

The Choisy-le-Roi earthenware factory was founded by the three Paillart brothers on 21 Floréal Year XIII (11 May 1805). Valentin, Melchior and Nicolas Paillart bought a 4 hectare plot of land, located on a part of the former royal estate, to set up their earthenware factory. They will start to produce fine earthenware with printed decoration from 1808, in collaboration with Christophe Potter (1751-1817). (Cf. Patrice Valfré). 

The faience factory will become, with the passing of time, and this until its final closing in 1934, the principal center of influence of Choisy. 

Property of the Paillart brothers from 1805 to 1824, the faience factory was then managed by Valentin Paillart and his associate Hippolyte Hautin. In 1836, the departure of Valentin Paillart left the factory to Hippolyte Hautin, who joined forces with Louis Boulenger (1773-1850). Their children Adolphe Boulenger (1805-1873) and Alexandrine Hautin (1814-1900) married and they had four children, including Hippolyte Boulenger (1836-1892) who became the owner of the company in 1863 and gave it the name H. Boulenger & Cie (Hautin Boulenger & Cie). 

He transformed the local earthenware factory into a leading industrial enterprise at the national level: the Choisy earthenware factory received several official awards at the World Fairs. In 1889, Hippolyte Boulenger transferred the head office to Paris, 18 rue de Paradis. When he died three years later, Paul-Hippolyte and Alexandre Boulenger succeeded him. In 1920, H.B. & Cie bought the Manufacture de Montereau, owner of the Creil-Montereau brand, and became H.B.C.M (Hippolyte Boulenger-Creil-Montereau). It closed its workshops in Choisy in 1934, those in Montereau in 1955. The three neo-gothic style funeral chapels of the Boulenger family, although very dilapidated, are still visible in the cemetery of Choisy-le-Roi.

In 1967, the company changed its name to Établissement Boulenger, entreprise de revêtements.

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