Familistere

"Not being able to make a chateau of the tenement... we have sought to unite the homes of many workmen in one palace. The Familistere is the palace home of Labor-- the SOCIAL PALACE of the future."

"The daily domestic routine--- cooking, laundry, child care---was socialized, carried on cooperatively. The education of the children 'commences from the cradle.'" ==Background==

Founding
Jean-Baptiste Andre Godin in Guise, France

Philosophy
"'Godin explained how, in the first half of the century, 'capital and labor created the great industries and revolutionized our methods of transportation.' For the next half century, he believed, 'the work to be done... is to effect a grand reform in the architecture of the home.'"Godin disagreed that the crisis of labor and capital relations and the abysmal standards of living for the working people could be fixed by 'strategies based on antagonism radiating from families living in 'isolated homes.'"

Godin believed that hopelessness and poverty were the "essential accompaniment" of the environment of the laborerer, so he believed the solution was to "change the environment."

Facilities and Landscape
The factory was located on the east bank of the Oise River and the Familistere across the river from it.

Children
Children were allowed to be kept in their private apartments, but most mothers sent their very young children to the nursery.

Education
From the time children entered the nursery "their education and the organization of the right conditions for their growth were major responsibilities of the Familistere."

The "integral education" was based on the educational theories of Fourier and Froebel.