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Memories of the Hommelet

Two centuries of life
in a Roubaix neighbourhood

From the rural hamlet of Lomelet to the workers’ courées, from the bulldozers of the 1970s to the park the residents won back from a wasteland, up to today’s projects: the story of the Hommelet told through old maps, aerial views and photographs, before and with the Centre Social.

Start in 1805 See the timeline

Sepia postcard: a group of adults and children, including a cyclist, at the foot of a metal footbridge, in front of a factory with a tall chimney — The Pont de la Vigne and its footbridge, before 1914: residents and children pose in front of the factoryOld postcard, author unknown — public domain (Wikimedia Commons)

The timeline

29 dates, from 1805 to today. Choose a period to read it in detail; in colour, the Centre Social’s dates.

1805 – 1984

Before the Centre Social

A hamlet becomes a workers’ street, then urban renewal turns the neighbourhood upside down.

Chapter 1, 1805 – 1861

From Lomelet to the rue de l’Hommelet

Before the factories and the courées, the Hommelet was a rural hamlet on the edge of Roubaix. Land registry maps from the early 19th century show fields, a few farms and a path that would become the street. Building spread into the area over the century, as the textile industry drew in workers.

Old extract from the Cassini map: the town of Roubaix in red and, to the north, the hamlet of Lommelet drawn with small farm symbols — The hamlet of “Lommelet” on the Cassini map (18th century): a few farms and mills north of the small town of RoubaixCassini map — source BnF / IGN (Géoplateforme), non-commercial reuse

1805 The Napoleonic land registry records the hamlet of Lomelet as it was.
1845 The new land registry shows the first workers’ houses.
Lomelet on the military staff map (1820-1866): a handful of houses along a path, at the edge of the growing townMilitary staff map (1820-1866) — IGN, Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
1861 The rue de l’Hommelet appears by name on the town maps.

Sources Ateliers Mémoire — La rue de l’Hommelet (new window) Roubaix digital library — 19th-century maps (new window)

Next chapter · 1882 – 1920 A street of workers, shops and schools

Chapter 2, 1882 – 1920

A street of workers, shops and schools

Within a generation, the street fills up. The local school opens, shops move in — a cooperative, a bakery, bars — and courées multiply behind the house fronts. The neighbourhood lives to the rhythm of the surrounding textile mills.

Sepia postcard: a bridge over the canal, a barge loaded with sacks, a cart and passers-by, a large brick factory on the right — The street and Pont de la Vigne, north of the neighbourhood, before 1914: barges on the canal, a textile mill and people crossing the bridgeOld postcard, author unknown — public domain (Wikimedia Commons)

1882 The school on the rue de l’Hommelet is built.
1885 Shops and bars make the street a lively place in its own right.
around 1920 The neighbourhood has sixteen courées and about 1,800 residents, according to the Ateliers Mémoire records.

Sources Ateliers Mémoire — La rue de l’Hommelet (new window) Roubaix digital library — the courées (new window)

Next chapter · 1948 – 1968 The era of courées and festivities

Chapter 3, 1948 – 1968

The era of courées and festivities

After the war, the Hommelet is a very dense neighbourhood: workers’ houses, courées and textile mills share every block. It is also a neighbourhood that knows how to celebrate: the “commune libre de l’Ommelet” and its festivities make the front page of the regional press.

Black-and-white aerial view of the Hommelet neighbourhood between 1950 and 1965: very dense blocks of small houses and large shed-roofed workshops — The neighbourhood from the air between 1950 and 1965: a tight weave of courées, workers’ houses and saw-tooth-roofed factoriesIGN — historical aerial photograph, Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0

1948 The “commune libre de l’Ommelet” and its popular festivities.

Watch the video Memories: the courées A 3 min 26 report on the courées of Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing, broadcast on 30 January 2002 — INA archive (new window)

Sources Ateliers Mémoire — La rue de l’Hommelet (new window) IGN — Remonter le temps (aerial photographs) (new window)

Next chapter · 1969 – 1984 The bulldozers come to the neighbourhood

Chapter 4, 1969 – 1984

The bulldozers come to the neighbourhood

Then comes urban renewal. From 1969, blocks judged unfit to live in are demolished one after another: whole streets disappear, and large empty plots open up in the heart of the neighbourhood. In 1984, the cutting of the avenue des Nations-Unies removes an entire stretch of the rue de l’Hommelet.

Black-and-white aerial view of the same area between 1965 and 1980, with several blocks razed to form light-coloured plots — The same view between 1965 and 1980: the demolished blocks leave large empty spaces in the middle of the neighbourhoodIGN — historical aerial photograph, Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0

1969 The Balzac block disappears: 84 houses demolished.
1970 The first bulldozers move into the slum blocks.
1974 Demolition of the Vernet and Sévigné cul-de-sacs.
1984 The avenue des Nations-Unies reshapes the entrance to the neighbourhood.

Sources Ateliers Mémoire — La rue de l’Hommelet (new window) IGN — Remonter le temps (aerial photographs) (new window) Société d’émulation de Roubaix — neighbourhood heritage (new window)

Next chapter · 1985 A community centre opens on the rue de l’Hommelet

1985 – today

With the Centre Social

The Centre Social opens; residents organise, win a park and prepare for the future.

Chapter 6, 1989 – 1999

Residents take part in the neighbourhood’s history

The Hommelet Neighbourhood Committee was registered on 1 December 1989. Six years later, together with the neighbourhood’s young people, it launched the Hestival — “H” for Hommelet and hip-hop — a free urban culture festival, put together with barely 10,000 francs. Five editions from 1995 to 1999, on the Phildar wasteland that would become the park. The festival ended when the promised funding failed to come through.

1 December 1989 Official registration of the Hommelet Neighbourhood Committee.
1990 The Phildar site closes, according to the Neighbourhood Committee.
1990s Centre Social At the Centre Social: the first parent-and-child workshops and an Early Years space opens.
15 August 1995 First Hestival: ten hours of open-air hip-hop, with local groups who mostly came for free.
5 December 1996 The park the residents wanted on the Phildar wasteland is approved by the town council.
August 1998 Fourth Hestival: 20,000 people over three days, according to the Neighbourhood Committee.
1999 Last Hestival, a day drowned under torrential rain.

Sources Hommelet Neighbourhood Committee — Hestival (new window) LeBlog2Roubaix — the Hestival’s twentieth anniversary (new window)

Next chapter · 2000 – 2010 The Nouveau Monde

Chapter 7, 2000 – 2010

The Nouveau Monde

On the former Phildar site, the town planned a fenced football pitch reserved for club members. The residents defended a different project: a park open to all, chosen by the neighbourhood’s associations from five architects’ designs. The Parc du Nouveau Monde opened in May 2000. Ten years later, the residents commissioned a work of art to mark the entrance to the neighbourhood.

Colour aerial view of the neighbourhood in the early 2000s: a large rectangular park with young trees, surrounded by brick houses — The newly landscaped park seen from the air between 2000 and 2005: lawns, paths and young trees across Phildar’s four hectaresIGN — orthophotograph 2000-2005, Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0

17 May 2000 Opening of the Parc du Nouveau Monde, on the four hectares of the former Phildar site.
2000s Centre Social At the Centre Social, the premises grow; a Seniors department and homework support are set up.
5 June 2010 Unveiling of Wim Delvoye’s Discobolos, commissioned by the residents through the Nouveaux commanditaires scheme.

Sources Hommelet Neighbourhood Committee — The Parc du Nouveau Monde (new window) Le Moniteur — a park on the site of the Phildar wasteland (new window) Cnap — unveiling of Wim Delvoye’s Discobolos (new window)

Next chapter · 2011 – today The neighbourhood today

Chapter 8, 2011 – today

The neighbourhood today

The Parc du Nouveau Monde has become the neighbourhood’s shared garden: Easter egg hunts, festivals and get-togethers follow one another there, and it celebrated its 25th birthday in May 2025. The Hommelet remains a working-class neighbourhood, covered by urban policy. Residents keep having their say: walking surveys with the Neighbourhood Committee, consultation with the Centre Social for its 2027-2030 project.

2015 Centre Social At the Centre Social, a digital space opens for residents: online paperwork, jobs, introduction to computers.
2023 Centre Social At the Centre Social, a new management team arrives.
2023 – 2025 The Neighbourhood Committee organises walking surveys in the streets of the Hommelet.
2024 The 2024-2030 urban policy contract includes the Hommelet in the priority area linking Roubaix, Tourcoing, Croix and Wattrelos.
17 May 2025 The Parc du Nouveau Monde celebrates its 25th birthday.
2025 Centre Social At the Centre Social, the premises are refurbished.
2025 – 2026 Centre Social Neighbourhood markets, door-to-door and workshops: residents prepare the Centre Social’s 2027-2030 social project together with it.
Residents and Centre staff during the consultation on the social project, December 2025Centre Social de l’Hommelet

Computer workshop: a group of adults in front of laptops, with a presentation projected on the wall — The Centre’s digital space today: a group computer workshopCentre Social de l’Hommelet

About twenty residents seated around big tables in a room at the Centre, facing a screen — Participatory workshop for the 2027-2030 social project, April 2026Centre Social de l’Hommelet

Families, children and older people gathered on a tree-lined lawn around an activity truck — An open-air neighbourhood party: games, snacks and neighbours getting togetherCentre Social de l’Hommelet

Sources Neighbourhood Committee — the park’s 25th birthday (new window) Neighbourhood Committee — planning and surveys (new window) Ville de Roubaix — 2024-2030 urban policy contract (appendices) (new window) LeBlog2Roubaix — the Hestival’s twentieth anniversary (new window)

The 2027-2030 social project

Do you have photos, documents or memories?

This story is still missing pictures: the festivities of the “commune libre de l’Ommelet”, the courées before the demolitions, the Hestival editions, the Centre Social’s early years… A neighbourhood’s archives are first and foremost in the drawers of the people who live there. If you have photographs, press cuttings or simply memories of the rue de l’Hommelet, the reception team will be happy to collect them.

The documents reproduced on this page belong to their authors and to the collections that hold them, credited under each image. Anyone who recognises themselves in a photograph and would like it removed can write to us: it will be removed, no questions asked.

Two centuries of life in a Roubaix neighbourhood