The former Simonis factory, known as "Le Chat

Welcome to the former Simonis factory. At the beginning of the 18th century, a mill was located here. This mill was called "Au Chat" after a popular distortion of the owner's name, Dauchap. Around 1760, the mill was bought 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 set up shop there in 1799 and it was here that the industrial revolution began on the continent. The factory that remains today was built by Simonis at the beginning of the 19th century next to the old mill (demolished in the 1920s).The Simonis factory employed thousands of workers and was active on this site until the mid 1960s. The building was listed in 1979 and purchased by the Régionale Verviétoise. It was converted into social housing for 42 families and renamed "Simonis residence".