Villette is a commune in Paris’ suburbs and is part of the city since 1860. There were once the capital’s slaughterhouses built under the Second Empire in 1867.
In 1960s the building were modernized and new slaughterhouses were built. But the new slaughterhouses closed in 1974, since meat used to be transported more by refrigerator lorries. Therefore a new plan was launched. The State wanted to renovate these two Parisian areas and to connect this new area to the rest of the city. In 1976 the contribution for the City of Sciences was launched. In 1983 Bernard Tschumi was appointed main city planner of this 50-hectares wide area. The main recent buildings are the City of Sciences and of Industry (together with the Géode and the Cinaxe), the Villette park, the Zénith, the City of Music (and the Holiday Inn hotel opposite to it).
Many old buildings were renewed, such as the Big Market, the Paris-Villette theatre, the Nubian Lions fountain.