Site de la ville de Vélizy-Villacoublay: Town history

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Origins

The name Villacoublay is thought to derive from the Latin word "villa". It is formed from the Latin word "villa" and a Gallo-Roman family name, Escoblenus.

The present-day town combines the estates of Vélizy-Villacoublay, which were the property of the Hôtel-Dieu of Notre-Dame de Paris, in the Middle Ages. Subsequently, the Louvois family, who already owned the estates of Chaville and Meudon, gradually bought this land. In 1695, Louis XIV bought the estates of Ursine and Villacoublay in order to extend his royal hunting domain. Vélizy only became a part of these hunting grounds during the reign of Louis XVI.

The legacy left by the Louvois family is still visible today at Saint-Denis Church. Three salamanders, the Louvois coat-of-arms, can still be seen on the gate tympanum (which was not part of the original building).

They are borne by two majestic lions, with the royal crown above.

In the 19th century, Vélizy was the theatre the fight to withstand the Prussian invasions: firstly in 1815, when the town was almost completely burned down (earning it the nickname of "Little Moscow"), and again in 1870-1871. At the turn of the 20th century, Vélizy and the hamlet of Villacoublay had 270 inhabitants. The municipality was one of the most important in the Seine-et-Oise département from an agricultural point of view: all the farming was managed by three large farms.

Urban development

Housing estates were built in the 1930s: these correspond to the present-day residential areas of Le Clos and Vélizy-Bas. The houses at the Cité Breguet were also built at this time.

The town of Vélizy-Villacoublay was occupied by the German forces between 1940 and 1944 and the air base was bombed by the allies six times. The bombing on August 24, 1943 took a particularly high toll, with bombs landing on residential neighbourhoods.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Vélizy-Villacoublay was declared to be a "war-damaged town" on September 3, 1945, and in 1952, the Secretary of State for War awarded the town the War Cross, a tribute on behalf of the nation to the inhabitants. In 1958, the town was declared to be a priority urban development area. In the 1960s, Vélizy-Villacoublay underwent far-reaching changes.

At the initiative of Robert Wagner (Mayor of Vélizy-Villacoublay from 1953 to 1988), the town council was instructed to draw up a full-orbed urban development plan in consultation with the relevant government ministry. This plan was drawn up by town planner Robert Auzelle, working with architect Alain Gillot. Vélizy-Villacoublay's "Grand Ensemble" estate came into being. The town took on its present form in three major phases: the central area (the Le Mail neighbourhood) was built between 1963 and 1966, followed by that to the west (the Mozart neighbourhood) between 1966 to 1970 and finally by that to the east (the Louvois neighbourhood) between 1969 to 1975, along with a business park (the employment area, called "Inovel Parc" nowadays) and a retail centre (Vélizy 2 regional shopping centre plus two "satellites", one devoted to lifestyle retail plus the "Usine Center" factory outlet mall).