City of Refuge

Le Corbusier – Dormitories for the Salvation Army (refuge city), Paris, France, 1929

The Cité de refuge is a building located at 12 rue Cantagrel, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris in France. Since it was built in 1933, it has been a Salvation Army facility for reception, accommodation and social reintegration.
Building intended to house the general social services of the Salvation Army and a shelter for 500 needy people. The building, in addition to the living and catering part for the poor, includes a clinic, a nursery, a laundry or a warehouse for clothes and second-hand goods. It was built in 1930 on the initiative of Albin Peyron by the architect Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, and was inaugurated by President Albert Lebrun on December 7, 1933 under the name of "Refuge Singer-Polignac".
Le Corbusier's first major building in Paris, it expresses his ideas in terms of social housing. The facade features reinforced concrete slabs and the south facade features a continuous glass surface of one thousand square meters. In 1952, the failure of the building's air conditioning system led to the facade being replaced with operable windows, placed behind a series of polychrome brise-soleil. Between 2011 and 2016, the building underwent a major restoration.

The site has been listed as a historic monument since 15 January 1975. Protected areas include the staircase, vestibule, interior decorations and elevations.