(Re)discover our city - Engelsburg

Kugener - 45

(Re)discover our city - Engelsburg

Think you know our capital well? Well, let's see about that! Some of the buildings that you walk past on a regular basis have a special story behind them. Dr Robert L. Philippart is a true expert on the subject and will take you through the city to uncover these hidden stories, giving you a new way of looking at some of our symbolic buildings.

Engelsburg – 30, Avenue de la Gare

The rental apartment building and commercial space at No. 30, Avenue de la Gare sits on the corner of this street and Rue Jean Origer. It occupies a prime location at the junction of the routes between Hollerich-Bonnevoie and Gare-Ville Haute. Avenue de la Gare was built following the destruction of the military fortifications of the former Thionville front. With its new linear route and increased width of 15 m, the horsecar ran along there from 1875. The southern side of Rue Sigefroi (now Rue Jean Origer) formed a border with the Hollerich municipality until 1920. The development of islands on both sides of Avenue de la Gare, surrounded by Rue Bender and Rue Fort Wallis, Boulevard de la Pétrusse / d'Avranches, Rue de Bonnevoie and Rue Jean Origer was the work of Edouard André, a French engineer who had also designed city's parks and districts between Boulevard Royal and Boulevard Joseph II. The islands on Avenue de la Gare were constructed between 1876 and 1893.

Engelsburg

"Engelsburg" takes its name from Restaurant "Engelsburg", which was run by G Walrafen on the premises in 1889. This Haussmann-style building dates back to 1893, when it was built to be an "immeuble de rapport et de commerce" (a rental apartment building) for the industrialist Jean-Nicolas Glesener-Loewen, who operated his building materials workshops just a few metres away on the same street. This type of real estate operation was a way for self-employed professionals to guarantee their income in the absence of any old-age pension or health insurance. Taking advantage of the customs union with Germany, Glesener-Loewen operated a sawmill near Saverne in German Alsace. The two commercial lots on the ground floor were rented to the jeweller Ludwig Boegé, and to Lambert Beck, a pottery, glass and ceramics merchant.

G.A. Volkmann, then Delhaize

At the turn of the century, the Moderne Reinhard bakery sold pastries from 6:00 in the morning. The other commercial lot was occupied by G.A. Volkmann, a German company that had been in Luxembourg since 1894, specialising in food, sweets and colonial staples. Operating from Metz-devant-les-Ponts, Volkmann opened branches in Esch-sur-Alzette, Ettelbruck and bought the Eschweiler creamery (Grevenmacher).

The country's departure from the customs union in the aftermath of the First World War led Volkmann to withdraw from the property. The building's owners Jules Ginter and Henri Deltgen then founded a company to give the food retailer "Etablissements Delhaize Frères Le Lion" a presence in Luxembourg. In 1922, they opened two branches in Luxembourg, including the one on Avenue de la Gare. The customs and economic union established with Belgium benefited these operations. Following the Second World War, Delhaize closed most of its factories and reduced its number of outlets. In 1950, the delicatessen Joseph Lesch took over the business and turned it into one of the country's first self-service venues. These activates were then continued by Schaeffer.

New Cortina

From the 1970s, the Schabes family transformed the premises into a women's clothes shop called "Cortina", then "New Cortina", which was active until 2001. "L'autre Traiteur" occupied the neighbouring commercial space. Today, Banque BCP and "Leonidas" chocolate shop share the ground floor. The building is included in the mixed urban zone of the city's general development plan, and is a protected municipal area classified as "environnement construit" (built-up environment).

© Photothèque de la ville de Luxembourg – Engelsburg Avenue de la Gare Collection Dr H. Kugener.

Inscrivez-vous
à la newsletter.

Inscrivez-vous et recevez tous les mois l’actualité shopping de la ville directement par email ! Bon plans, événements phares, nouveaux commerces, ne manquez rien de l’actualité commerçante.

S'inscrire
Cityshopping news