Gervaise’s Laundry Shop

Gervaise’s Laundry shop is a transitionary space for the laundress and her family: Coupeau and Gervaise move into the shop (and new home) on the Rue de la Goutte D’Or , and at first appear to thrive. Gervaise’s business does well, and Coupeau has yet to become a full fledged alcoholic. The space is at ground level, in the same building as the Lorilleux, and the complex looks out on the Rue de la Goutte D’Or, down the Rue Neuve towards the octroi wall. When the family first moves in, they spend a significant sum of money fixing up the shop and making it an aesthetically pleasing locale. As they slip farther into poverty and alcoholism, however, the shop reflects their newfound apathy, and the new life they had given their home and business slips away as the shop decays around them...