“Can’t wait for this wart to be removed”
Since the evacuation of the building in 2014, the site barriers have not held around the building which has become a ruin. Lying down by the wind and curiosities, they reveal an enormous skeleton, gutted by time and neglect. Of the Signal there is not much left. More doors, more windows. On the facade, a few tags and a declaration of love “I love you”, painted in red on the building.
A symbol of coastal erosion and climate change, Le Signal still stands facing the sea, a few meters from the waves when the tide is high. Confirmed to “Sud Ouest” by the mayor of the city Xavier Pintat, the demolition of the building is scheduled for January 2023. The end of a long story.
The tic of aesthetics
Joëlle came to walk her dogs on the beach. She has lived in Soulac-sur-Mer for two years. The Signal, she always knew it at the end of her life. The news of its demolition is rather good: “Can’t wait for this wart to be removed from the seafront. It will be much prettier when the building is no longer there”, admits the sixty-year-old. She is accompanied by a couple of friends who share the same opinion. ” It’s ugly. It spoils the coastal landscape and it’s like that everywhere, ”says Marylène. Same story for her husband.
“They were reimbursed, right? “Satisfied with the definitive disappearance of the building, the group is still wondering about the conditions of compensation for the inhabitants. The co-owners of the building condemned by the erosion were compensated up to 70% of the value of the dwellings. “Far too little,” the Sunday walkers collectively said.
eternal fight
“When the tide is high, it almost looks like the building is going to end up in the water. Christian is a “pure strain” Soulacais, as he likes to say. He knew the coast before Le Signal. “It was nice,” he says. “But it was also nice with Le Signal. It was part of the landscape and the identity of the city”.