HELMET FOR FIREFIGHTERS FROM THE NOISIEL FACTORY (First Menier Chocolate Factory), type 1855 modified 1872, Third Republic. 25495

HELMET FOR FIREFIGHTERS FROM THE NOISIEL FACTORY (First Menier Chocolate Factory), type 1855 modified 1872, Third Republic. 25495

Entirely in brass, crest stamped with 11 gadroons, front plate stamped in relief with a shield stamped with the “M” (Menier Jean Antoine Brutus) surmounted by the crown of the town of Noisiel with a flaming bomb placed in the upper part of the plate on two crossed axes. On either side of the shield, an oak branch and a laurel branch are stamped in relief, with a ribbon bearing the inscription “Srs POMPIERS USINE DE NOISIEL”. Visor and neck cover surrounded by a folded brass bangle 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-shaped rosettes stamped with circular moldings. Tubular plume holder with square section decreasing downwards.

France.
Third Republic.
Good condition, missing the inner cap, missing the inner nut for the screw securing one of the chin straps, a few dents on the helmet.

HISTORICAL
The factory was founded by the Menier dynasty in Noisiel, starting from a simple mill. It 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 three hectares of land. This site is at 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 factory space was completely redesigned. The buildings are then ordered according to the manufacturing process.
The design of the mill by Jules Saulnier (1817-1881) is the successful meeting between "Art Nouveau" type architecture of the end of the 19th century and industrial functionality. The industrial complex was completed in 1874 with the construction of a workers’ housing estate.
Until 1924, the reconstructions and new constructions, 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 in 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 reconversion carried out by architects Reichen and Robert is based on "the dialogue between contemporary architecture and ancient architecture".
The buildings of the first Menier factories now belong to French industrial heritage. 3 buildings have been listed in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments since 1986. The Saulnier mill has been classified since 1992.