[2] In the 1960s and 1970s, the destruction of the working-class Saint-Sauveur district left Vieux-Lille as the last remaining example of the city's pre-industrial architecture.

A neighborhood of immigrants and impoverished large families, with a bad reputation until the 1980s, escaped a project to build an expressway through its center.

Since its restoration, property prices have risen steadily, renewing the population almost entirely and leading to rapid gentrification.

Most of these streets are lined with French-style buildings dating from the late 17th and 18th centuries, including numerous townhouses inspired by those built simultaneously in Paris.

The memory of the presence of rivers (through which the Deûle flowed through the town before being diverted to the north) is remarkable: are buildings that have left their mark on the history and people of Vieux-Lille, making them part of the district's historical and cultural heritage.