Poulenc Frères
Poulenc Frères branch store at 11 rue de Cluny, Paris, opened in 1886
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| Industry | Pharmaceuticals |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged |
| Successor | Rhône-Poulenc |
| Founded | 1881 |
| Defunct | 1928 |
| Headquarters | France |
Poulenc Frères (Poulenc Brothers) was a French chemical, pharmaceutical and photographic supplies company that had its origins in a Paris pharmacy founded in 1827. From 1852 it began to manufacture (or package) photographic chemicals. It took the name Poulenc Frères in 1881, and by 1900 had a range of high-quality products. That year it went public as the Établissements Poulenc Frères. It began production of synthetic medicines, and continued to grow during World War I (1914–18). In 1928 it merged with the Société des usines chimiques du Rhône to form Rhône-Poulenc.
The company can trace its roots to the Pharmacie-Droguerie Hédouin, a pharmacy founded in 1827 in the rue Saint-Merri, Paris. The baker Pierre Wittman (1798–1880) bought the store in 1845. His daughter, Pauline Wittmann (1828–1910), married Étienne Poulenc (1823–78) in February 1851. They had three sons: Gaston (1852–1948), Emile (1855–1917) and Camille (1864–1942).
Etienne Poulenc was a pharmacist and a chemist, and partnered with his father-in-law. He became sole owner in 1858. With his brother-in-law Léon Whittman, Etienne began to manufacture photographic products, which up to then the business had only retailed, under the "P.W." brand. Starting in 1852 the products needed for photographic collodion were prepared or packaged in a factory in Vaugirard. These included silver bromide and iodide, iodine chloride and sodium thiosulfate ("hypo"). In 1859 Poulenc opened a factory in Ivry-sur-Seine that prepared salts of iron and antimony, and many products needed for manufacture and processing of the new gelatin-silver bromide plates, which had replaced collodion: ammonium ferric citrate, sodium acetate, and compounds for fixing and developing the photographs.
Étienne Poulenc became well-known for manufacturing chemical products for use in photography. Poulenc et Wittmann of 7 rue Neuve-Saint-Merri exhibited at the 1878 Universal Exposition. The firm sold chemical, pharmaceutical, photographic and industrial products.
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