Explore #2 of ‘The Greased Otters Tour’ with Jeremy, Mark and Tim.
Our intended second exploration was a large industrial wasteland, but seeing as this abandoned theatre was right next door it seemed rude not to pop in for half an hour!
History
The ‘Salle des fêtes d’Ougrée Marihayea’ (or just ‘OM’) is also known in the urbex world as ‘Théâtre Jeusette’. Designed by the Liège architect Georges Dedoyard and built in 1948, it was formerly known as ‘Cockerill Hall’ after the Cockerill Sambre steel company which owned it. The building boasts a capacity of some 3,500 m², and functioned as a theatre and meeting rooms for the workers of the nearby steel plant.
When the steel plant closed in the late 1990s, so did the theatre. The site was purchased by the City of Seraing in 2010 with the intention of converting it into a cultural centre. However, those plans never proceeded and the site has fallen further into disrepair, seemingly destined to be demolished.
Our Explore
This was a quick explore, so I’ll just cut straight to the photos…
UPDATE: July 2020
One of the blog’s readers (thanks Karl) has advised me that the theatre has recently completed a full renovation by Balteau Group – I attach some of their photos below for ease of reference, all rights acknowledged. It’s great when such buildings are given unexpected new leases of life!
Thanks for watching.
Adam X
4 comments
Beautiful photos as always!
Thanks Ken, very kind!
In the mean time this building is totally renovated and host’s the concerthall.
You can find more about it here (with beautiful photos):
https://www.balteaugroup.eu/index.php/2019/12/02/la-salle-de-lom-dans-les-mains-de-balteau-group/
Wow, they’ve done an incredible job! Thank you for letting me know – I will update the main post properly tomorrow and add one or two of the redevelopment images so others can see more easily too.