Stood at the end of Île de Nantes,
between two branches of the Loire, the building is flanked by famous Nantes
landmarks such as the Titan Gris (the iconic grey crane) and the multi-coloured
rings by Daniel Buren and Patrick Bouchain. Initially named after
Maurice Bertin, former President of the Nantes Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, Hangar à Bananes is 150 metres long and only one storey
high. The architectural style is both a nod to art deco design and to a
traditional river port. The widely-held view in Nantes is that this building is
another a relic left from the history of slave trade in the city. On the
contrary, it was built just after the Second World War, and grew over the
following decade thanks to the import trade of bananas and pineapples from New
Guinea. Hangar à bananes became the main seller of these products in
Western France. Then, from the early 1970s to its closing in 1991, it became a
depot for the Beghin Say sugar factory.
and One Dj