Helmet Of The Noisiel Factory Firefighters (first Menier Chocolate Factory)

HELMET OF THE FIREFIGHTERS OF THE NOISIEL FACTORY (First Menier Chocolate Factory), type 1855 modified 1872, Third Republic. 25495 Entirely in brass, crest stamped with 11 gadroons, front plate struck in relief with a shield stamped with the “M” (Menier Jean Antoine Brutus) surmounted by the crown of the city of Noisiel with in the upper part of the plate a flaming bomb placed on two crossed axes. On either side of the shield, are stamped in relief an oak branch and a laurel branch, with ribbon bearing the inscription “Srs POMPIERS USINE DE NOISIEL”. Visor and neck cover encircled with a brass reed folded astride the outer edge. Chinstraps composed of a soft leather chin strap covered with a brass plate stamped with a series of decreasing scales cut alternately into two and three festoons, with round rosettes stamped with circular moldings. Tubular plume holder with square section decreasing towards the bottom. France. Third Republic. Good condition, missing the inner cap, missing the inner nut for the screw fixing one of the chin straps, some dents on the helmet. HISTORY The factory was founded by the Menier dynasty in Noisiel, starting from a simple mill. This was designed by the architect Jules Saulnier then built (1869-1872) by the engineer Armand Moisant. It was one of the first buildings in the world with an exposed metal structure. Former Menier chocolate factory in Noisiel In 1825, Jean-Antoine-Brutus Menier acquired the Noisiel mill and a three-hectare plot of land. This site was the origin of the creation of a factory for the industrial manufacture of chocolate. The factory site has undergone several phases of transformation since the arrival of the Meniers in 1825 and the presence of a mill intended to pulverize pharmaceutical substances. From the 1860s, the company became a real industrial complex where the organization of the factory space was completely redesigned. The buildings were then ordered according to the manufacturing process. The design of the mill by Jules Saulnier (1817-1881) is the successful meeting of the "Art Nouveau" type architecture of the end of the 19th century and industrial functionality. The industrial complex was completed from 1874 by the construction of a workers' city. Until 1924, the reconstructions and new buildings, made necessary by the increase in production, perfectly integrated the technical progress of the 19th century, as well as an exceptional architectural aesthetic. After the departure of the Menier family in 1960, the land of the complex was sold to several successive groups. The former Menier chocolate factory was converted into a head office by the Nestlé-France SAS group in 1996. This conversion carried out by the architects Reichen and Robert is based on "the dialogue between contemporary architecture and ancient architecture". The buildings of the first Menier factories are now part of French industrial heritage. 3 buildings have been listed since 1986 in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments. The Saulnier mill has been listed since 1992.