A studio house built in 1926 by the renowned architect André Lurçat in a famous
cul-de-sac of artists, tucked away in the fourteenth arrondissement of Paris
Paris, PARIS paris 75014 FR

Location

The famous Parisian cul-de-sac of artists, Villa Seurat, is tucked away between the streets Rue de la Tombe-Issoire and Rue d’Alésia. It was divided into plots for detached houses and artist studios, which now stand along the street. They were built between 1924 and 1926, mainly by the renowned architect André Lurçat (1894–1970). Artists who once lived in this street include Marcel Gromaire, Chana Orloff, Henry Miller, Antonin Artaud, Alberto Magnelli and Jean Lurçat, the famous painter and tapestry artist. Just a stone’s throw from the property are specialist food shops and brasseries that bring the neighbourhood to life. The metro stations Mouton-Duvernet and Alésia are nearby, as are the bus lines 28, 38, 62 and 88.

Description

André Lurçat (1894–1970), a leading representative of the so-called international style in modernist architecture, built this studio house for the painter Pierre Bertrand in 1926. The house covers 208m² and is made up of three floors. Its stylised structural features are plain with emblematic designs partly preserved. Modernist materials and forms stand next to each other: open spaces, strips of windows, coloured concrete floors, oak parquet, walls with glass blocks, white expanses and polychromatic patterns.

This calm dual-aspect dwelling faces north and south, flooded with daylight. The immaculate facade is punctuated with strips of windows and crowned with a roof terrace. Beneath a small concrete porch roof, the entrance door opens into a spacious hallway that leads to a staircase of different colours. The former artist’s studio lies on the ground floor. It is now a vast 41m² living room capped with a vault of glass blocks. Next to it is a small office beside a bedroom with a shower room. This space could be turned into a garage.

On the first floor, there are three bedrooms, one of which connects to a small balcony and a bathroom. On the second floor, there is a 31m² living room with a dining area and fireplace. It is generously filled with daylight. There is also a separate kitchen that connects to a small balcony and a utility room.

André Lurçat, a politically minded modernist architect, symbolised by the Villa Seurat cul-de-sac

André Lurçat was a modernist architect who became famous from the 1930s onwards. He championed an innovative, simple, rational form of architecture freed from conventionalism. The detached houses that he built in Paris and its surrounding region from the 1920s to the 1950s bear witness to this. These houses include Villa Bomsel and Villa Michel in Versailles, houses in Sceaux, Villa Hefferlin in Ville d’Avray, and, in Paris, Villa Guggenbühl and the houses of the Villa Seurat cul-de-sac. Lurçat was also an activist involved in social projects led by local authorities in the Paris region from the 1930s to the 1960s. These included the architectural design of the Karl Marx primary school in Villejuif, of public buildings in Maubeuge, Saint-Denis and Blanc-Mesnil, and of housing, churches, town halls, schools and sports arenas. All of Lurçat’s designs attest to a politically minded approach to architecture that sought to homogenise and harmonize spaces and forms in an attempt to wipe out inequalities. The success of these projects quickly gave him a certain stature that was both Parisian and European.

André Lurçat built the group of studio houses in the Villa Seurat cul-de-sac between 1924 and 1926. They are among the first important buildings in modernist architecture in Paris, predating the cul-de-sac of houses that Robert Mallet-Stevens built in 1927. After the First World War, the Montparnasse district of Paris became a major hub of artists. This gave rise to artist studios in an environment of Haussmannian architecture. The cul-de-sac that was given the name Villa Seurat was created on the edge of Paris, in the Montsouris district, upon wasteland that belonged to an apple trader – Mr. Schreibmann – who decided to build shacks and stalls there for cobblers, chair-bottomers and craftsman. In 1919, André Lurçat acquired a plot for building a studio house for his brother Jean Lurçat (1892–1966), a famous painter and tapestry artist. Eight houses that André Lurçat built in the Villa Seurat cul-de-sac in the interwar period from 1924 to 1926 – for artists and intellectuals who boldly innovated – have been listed as historical monuments.

The studio house of Pierre Bertrand (1884–1975)

André Lurçat built Pierre Bertrand’s house in 1926. Pierre Bertrand was a painter and ceramic artist. Lurçat built the house for him on a small plot of land in the Villa Seurat cul-de-sac in an almost perfect square. The simplicity of its facade reflects the avant-garde spirit of the modernist movement, for which starkness and austerity were guiding principles: geometric forms magnified by natural light and, inside, cleverly arranged touches of colour. The flat facade heralds the spirit of the house’s interior motif and utilitarian design. The style recalls an abstract painting, with vertical and horizontal lines forming partitions, windows and roofing. White wall rendering and plain picture windows, framed with dark-green ironwork and arranged in strips, create a uniform whole. A simple white concrete porch roof juts out above the entrance door. Echoing the curve of the neighbouring house, a small, rounded balcony used to protrude beneath the glass roof of the former artist’s studio, which is now a living room. This was the only stylised structural feature – marking an artistic identity – to have disappeared.

The interior

As soon as you step through the glass-and-iron front door, the 18m² entrance hall heralds the house’s modernist spirit. On the ground floor, snow-white walls contrast with the vermilion tone of the hallway’s polished-concrete floor and, beyond it, the oak parquet of the extensive studio lounge that covers around 40m². A wood-burning stove and a ceiling of glass blocks warm up this vast living room and bathe it in light. Beside it, a small office serves as a reading corner and a bedroom with a shower room welcomes guests. This space could be turned into a garage.

Like a Russian avant-garde painting, a flight of raspberry-red concrete stairs leads to the two upper floors. Glass blocks in the wall cast daylight onto the colourful geometric shapes that adorn the stairwell. On the first floor, strips of windows – emblematic of modernist architecture – fill three bedrooms with light. The bedrooms’ walls are white. Their floors are made of hazel-coloured concrete or are covered in oak parquet. There is a bathroom on the first floor in addition to one on the second floor – a storey used for hosting friends and family. The 31m² living room with a dining area is brightened with daylight from large strips of windows. In its corner stands a plaster fireplace sculpted by Valentine Schlegel (1925–2021), a renowned French sculptor and ceramic artist. Through the windows, the neighbouring houses offer a vista of modernism: white facades dappled with greenery. In line with this room, the kitchen pairs wood with stainless steel and has kept its original spirit.

Our opinion

The Villa Seurat cul-de-sac is a calm oasis of simplicity. This picturesque street is nestled in the French capital’s fourteenth arrondissement, near the city’s famous Montparnasse district. It has preserved its characteristic modernist architecture from the 1920s. The cobbled lane is dotted with Virginia climbers and wild cherry trees and lined with facades of different colours. On either side, today’s inhabitants of the cul-de-sac keep alive the artistic and intellectual spirit of yesteryear. The architectural starkness of straight lines and strong colours offers new owners – maybe a family or perhaps a collector, musician or dancer – the exciting chance to give free rein to their imagination: to modernise the property while maintaining its original spirit.

Exclusive sale

2 300 000 €
Fees at the Vendor’s expense


See the fee rates

Reference 643748

Total floor area 208 m2
Number of rooms 8
Reception area 31 m2
Number of bedrooms 4
Possible number of bedrooms 5
Balcony



French Energy Performance Diagnosis

Representative

Françoise Fauré-Audouy +33 1 42 84 80 85

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NB: The above information is not only the result of our visit to the property; it is also based on information provided by the current owner. It is by no means comprehensive or strictly accurate especially where surface areas and construction dates are concerned. We cannot, therefore, be held liable for any misrepresentation.

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