An Art Deco-style villa and garden in Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire

Property owners’ take the floor

Why did you settle in this region, in this place and not elsewhere ?

We restored the Château de La Ballue and its remarkable gardens, which we had listed on the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments as contemporary gardens with a Mannerist inspiration. We then turned our attention to restoring another type of building in the Gers department, an Armagnac winery, creating moving gardens integrated into the environment. Now we have renovated a pure Art Deco architecture gem - a villa and its garden which is just 1.5 hours from Paris, which we have also just had listed as a Historic Monument. Our desire is to pass on a heritage based on beauty and balance.

What specific architectural features does your building have ?

curves and right angles. It is made up of two volumes, one cubic and the other rectangular, which are interlocked and softened by the rounded corners of the rotunda. On the garden side, the combination of a rectangle and a cylinder creates a minimalist, sculpture-like whole, embellished with bas-reliefs and enhanced by geometric decoration running along the facades. The landscaped garden is a remarkable example of garden architecture from the period. As well as providing pleasure, its function was to detach the building from the streets around it, and to act as a protective screen for the building.

What is its history ?

In 1931, the company Dutronc et Fils, owner of the Bel Air estate, sold a plot of land to a developer with a view to creating a housing estate made up of several lots for sale, governed by a charter which buyers were required to adhere to. Each lot was sold off plan. The type of fences surrounding each lot was defined by the charter and had to be built within one year of purchase. Green spaces were created and had to be respected. The developer of the entire development, Mr Palacios, built and lived in the villa that bears his name. He commissioned two Mâcon architects, Claude Fournier and Raoul Leguet, to build it.

What can you offer people staying with you ?

A historic monument, an Art Deco villa, in an area with gardens and a revisited Art Deco interior. A region of rolling countryside between Cluny and Charolais, with its hills and forests, which is rich in history. We don't offer accommodation, but we do offer an exceptional location for film shoots and photo shoots in Mâcon, the capital of southern Burgundy, located on the border of the Rhône and Ain departments. Mâcon is only 1.5 hours from Paris by train, 1 hour from Lyon and 1.5 hours from Geneva.

Places you would personally recommend

In Mâcon, we particularly like "Le Crescent", a jazz cellar with a mini-festival and an excellent programme on Fridays, Saturday evenings and Sundays from September to June. In November, "Mâcon Symphonie d'Automne", a festival dedicated to vocal art. Our favourite restaurants: "Le Cassis" with a surprise menu in the evening; "La Fraternité", a historic restaurant in the centre of town, which has been in existence since 1884 and serves traditional French cuisine and artisan wines; "Le Poisson d'Or" on the banks of the Saône with its shady terrace. Our favourite winemakers: Domaine des Angelots in Viré, Domaine Michel in Clessé, Louis Jadot in Beaune for his Mâcon-Villages and Domaine Lapalu in Quincié-en-Beaujolais.