Vacherie du Parc

Location of the former cow farm, to the south of the lake (north is on the left).

Shortly after the opening of the Parc de la Tête d'Or in 1857, following the introduction of fallow deer for the creation of the zoo, cows and sheep were brought in to maintain the lawns. From 1861 onwards, the cows' milk was sold on the Place Bellecour.[1]

Built from wood and thatch, it was destroyed by fire in 1871.[2] In 1904, Mayor Jean-Victor Augagneur launched the construction of a new building to produce milk closer to Lyon.[3] He first approached Auguste Duret, who proposed a U-shaped plan with a lot of ornamentation.[nb 1] But the town council deemed it too costly. Tony Garnier submitted a simpler, and therefore much more affordable, proposal in August 1904.[nb 2][2]

This was the first of many commissions for Tony Garnier by the city of Lyon.[4] The design was taken from the agricultural establishments in his Cité Industrielle.[5] The cow farm went into service as soon as work was completed at the end of 1906.[6]

The building was well received by the city, enabling Victor Augagneur to recommend Tony Garnier to the new mayor, Édouard Herriot.[5]

The possibility of extensions was foreseen from the outset of the project, allowing the sterilization section to be enlarged during construction. Between 1912 and 1913, Tony Garnier built two flats for the cowherds in the attic above the sterilization room and added a third by raising an annex building.[nb 3][4]

• Plans of Tony Garnier's cow farm
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Its production was insufficient from the beginning: in 1911, it housed 34 cows, but could not accommodate any more; the town asked for a second cow farm.[6] It was closed on June 16, 1919.[6] The dairy was then transferred to the Cibeins agricultural school in Misérieux.[2]

• Cibeins School of Agriculture
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  Cellar and dairy
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  Lyon City Plaque

The cow barn was then refurbished between 1922 and 1924 and transformed into a fawn house, with the addition of two cages on the east side of the building. An adjoining enclosure was created for the Indochinese elephant Loulou,[nb 4] who lived in the park for 15 years.[8][9] Disused and abandoned in the 1980s,[10] the building was used as a storeroom. Although it is neither listed nor included in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments, it is considered to be of undoubted heritage interest. Its restoration was therefore envisaged at the end of the 1990s as part of a study into the park's heritage as a whole.[11] On January 29, 2001, the city of Lyon voted to restructure the building to give it "the presence it deserves", at a cost of 14 million francs,[nb 5][12] and to reallocate it to the operation of the Parc de la Tête d'Or, including a large storage area, an exhibition room, a classroom, a cold room, and the reptile enclosure.[2]

The Vacherie has a ground floor and an attic floor, with a total surface area of 1,275 m².[12] It was designed by Tony Garnier as a utilitarian building that blends in harmoniously with the park. It includes a stable for 40 cows, a sterilization plant and, between the two, a dwelling for the cowherd[4] from which he can observe the animals through an embrasure.[13] An isolation barn for three sick cows is set aside in the courtyard.[14]

The whole complex is built in one piece, with gables and pediments similar to the villas he had designed to build on the edge of the park.[4] The ground floor of the main building is made of reinforced concrete with a Portland cement screed, while the floors of the outbuildings are made of clinker and hydraulic lime. The walls are made of adobe and hydraulic lime. Finally, the floors and walls are whitewashed to make them waterproof. The whole building is covered in red Burgundy tiles.[2] There is also a basement for storing foodstuffs and a hayloft under the roof: this space for storing fodder may have forced Garnier to build the only traditional roof in his architectural work.[10]

The architect paid particular attention to hygiene, including ventilation, automatic urine drainage, and a glazed brick floor.[4] The milk sterilization unit is a modern technology, included in the project from the beginning by Mayor Augagneur, a medical officer of health, who wanted to provide disadvantaged young people with quality milk. The city wanted to control the entire chain, from production to distribution. The troughs in the barn were made of cement, with hot and cold water taps and pipes for draining off the water and manure.[2]

The only decorations Tony Garnier allowed himself were the terracotta pots on the eaves of the roof, as well as a wall of ivy and an enclosure hedge.[2]

« This atypical, unique work was nevertheless produced in a style that Garnier used for several other projects: a mixture of regionalism and eclecticism, and sometimes of late Art Nouveau.[4] » — Olivier Cinqualbre (architect and museum curator).

• Cibeins School of Agriculture
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  West Façade
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  South side
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  Hay barn (hayloft)

Plans for the new factory.

In 1918, Tony Garnier drew up two plans for a milk pasteurization plant, which appeared to be an extension of the cow farm's sterilization unit. The complex, planned for a nearby plot in Villeurbanne, was imposing: it was almost like a housing estate, comprising several administrative buildings, a laboratory, workshops, a garage, and a technical building.[18]

The plans feature a large chimney, shed roofs concealed by an attic, and concrete architecture similar to that of the Cité Industrielle, with a special feature: a frieze that could be made of faience tiles around the attics.[18]

• Early photographs of the building by photographer Jules Sylvestre (1859-1936): (a) archive and (b) archive.