Domestic politics: The Cité expérimentale at Noisy-le-Sec in Greater Paris

This article explores the relationship between domestic interiors and nation-building in Liberation-era France by looking at the Cité expérimentale de Merlan at Noisy-le-Sec, a housing development erected by the Ministry of Reconstruction and Urbanism (MRU) between 1946 and 1948. Comprising over 60 prefabricated houses from seven nations, the Cité expérimentale was intended to be a laboratory where the MRU could evaluate design and equipment choices in order to determine those that would best contribute to family unity, reduce household labour, and provide 'comfort' (in the form of sanitary and heating installations) to the largest number of people possible. These goals were consistent with a larger aim of organising class and gender relations for optimum productivity in the new welfare state. After a brief examination of residents' reactions to 'modern living', the article concludes with implications of this case study for scholarly questions of modernisation and Americanisation.