L’ancienne Usine Simonis, dite « Le Chat »

Welcome to the former Simonis factory. At the start of the 18th century, a fullery that became a mill was set up on this site. This fullery was called the "Foulerie Au Chat" due to a local deformation of the owner's name, Dauchap.Around 1760, the fullery was purchased by Jean-François Biolley, an industrialist from Verviers. Jean-François Biolley and his brother-in-law Iwan Simonis allowed William Cockerill (an English mechanic) to move in here in 1799 and this place became the cradle of the industrial revolution on the continent. The factory that remains today was built by Simonis at the start of the 19th century immediately next to the former fullery (demolished in the 1920s).The Simonis factory employed thousands of workers and was active on this site until the middle of the 1960s. The building became a listed edifice in 1979 and was purchased by the regional authorities in Verviers. It has been converted in to social housing, accommodating 42 families, under the name "Residence Simonis".