Industrial · Architecture

École Duperré

Paris

École Duperré is an art academy housed in a brick, glass, and steel building with a history linked to the women’s emancipation movement led by Élisa Lemonnier. Lemonnier opened a sewing workshop and created the Société pour l’enseignement professionnel des femmes. From 1923, the building hosted two applied arts schools for boys, Germain Pilon and Bernard Palissy, whose names still decorate the facade. These schools were nicknamed “Arza” (Arts-A). The boys’ school moved to rue Olivier-de-Serres in 1969/1970, while the girls’ school moved to rue Dupetit-Thouars in the same period and kept the name Duperré. Today, École Duperré enrolls about 500 students in design, fashion, and creation professions. Its training follows European standards (license-master-doctorate), and it also offers a preparatory class for the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay design section entrance exam.

Map showing the location of École Duperré in Paris
Location of École Duperré in Paris

Nearby Objects

History and Educational Role

The history of the site is linked to the women's emancipation movement led by Elisa Lemonnier, who opened a sewing workshop and created the Societe pour l'enseignement professionnel des femmes. In 1923, the brick, glass, and steel building hosted two applied arts schools for boys, Germain Pilon and Bernard Palissy. The names of these schools still decorate the building facade, and they were nicknamed Arza, from Arts-A. The boys' school moved to rue Olivier-de-Serres in 1969/1970, while the girls' school moved to rue Dupetit-Thouars in the same period and kept the name Duperre. The site was later part of a community of universities and establishments made up of 18 Parisian higher education, training, research, and business network institutions, which was dissolved in 2024.

Training and Degrees at Ecole Duperre

Ecole Duperre enrolls about 500 students in programs related to design, fashion, and creation professions. Its training now follows European standards in the license-master-doctorate system. The school no longer enrolls students for bac + 2 degrees. It also offers a preparatory class for the entrance exam to the design section of Ecole normale superieure Paris-Saclay.