A first metal footbridge was built over the Bassin du Commerce in Le Havre in 1887, then replaced in 1899 by a footbridge with a metal deck. It became dangerous after the Second World War and was destroyed in 1963. In 1966, the architect Guillaume Gillet was commissioned to revive the footbridge of the basin. He designed an asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge that did not alter the perspective with Oscar Niemeyer's Maison de la Culture standing just behind.