Ancien hôtel Roux de Corse, actuellement lycée Montgrand
MonumentHidden Treasure
Ancien hôtel Roux de Corse, actuellement lycée Montgrand, located in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 43.2914, 5.3785
- Mérimée Reference
- PA13000016
One of Marseille's Baroque jewels of the 18th century, the Hôtel Roux de Corse was a prefectural residence before becoming Marseille's first girls' high school - a story of power giving way to emancipation.
History
Nestling in the heart of Marseille, the former Hôtel Roux de Corse is one of those discreet buildings that encapsulate several centuries of history within its walls. Built around 1745 for a prosperous shipowner, it epitomises the bourgeois magnificence of Marseilles as a merchant city, a world city turned towards the Mediterranean and keen to assert its success in stone and stucco. Now part of the Lycée Montgrand, it retains a remarkable architectural presence within the urban fabric of the city centre. What makes this building truly singular is the density of the roles it has taken on: patrician residence, residence of the representative of the State, then republican temple of feminine knowledge. Each era has left its mark, superimposing decorations and uses without ever entirely erasing the previous layers. If you're a keen observer of architecture, you'll be able to spot the fascinating stratification that is typical of monuments that have survived the ages by adapting. The fact that the building is part of the Lycée Montgrand gives it a daily life that is rare among listed monuments: far from being a frozen museum, its corridors and courtyards still resonate with human presence. The façades of the hotel, which have been partially listed since 1997, offer the attentive visitor a precious testimony to the civil architecture of Marseilles during the Age of Enlightenment. For historians, photographers and those interested in urban heritage, this monument is a perfect illustration of the way in which Marseilles was able to recycle its architectural heritage to suit each era, transforming the home of a great shipowner into a symbol of the educational Third Republic.
Architecture
The Hôtel Roux de Corse is part of the tradition of eighteenth-century Provençal civic architecture, marked by an elegant classicism tinged with Italian influences, as is common in the grand hôtels particuliers of Marseille from that period. The composition of the principal façade follows a rigorous symmetry, characteristic of late Rococo taste and early Neoclassicism, with an arrangement of bays punctuated by pilasters and moulded window surrounds. The materials used are typical of local construction: pale Provençal limestone, which lends the whole ensemble that warm, golden hue so characteristic of old Marseille's built heritage. The interior retains, at least in part, the sumptuous decorative schemes installed during the prefectural conversion of 1806. One may suppose the presence of stuccoed ceilings, monumental chimney pieces with carved overmantels, and wood panelling in the reception rooms — all elements characteristic of Empire-style fittings designed to represent the prestige of the State. The addition of an extra storey carried out in 1891 to meet the needs of the lycée is visible in the upper section of the building, whose architectural vocabulary bears witness to the pragmatism of the Third Republic, less concerned with stylistic integration than with functional efficiency. The partial listing under the Monuments Historiques specifically protects the most remarkable elements of the original edifice — in all likelihood the eighteenth-century façades and the interior decorative features of merit — reflecting a desire to preserve the architectural memory of this exceptional urban palimpsest at the heart of Marseille.
Related Figures
Jean-André Roux — armateur marseillais, commanditaire de l'hôtel vers 1745Napoléon Bonaparte — sous l'Empire duquel l'hôtel devient résidence préfectorale en 1806Les préfets des Bouches-du-Rhône — successifs résidents officiels de 1806 à 1866La IIIe République — commanditaire de la reconversion en lycée de jeunes filles en 1891La Ville de Marseille — propriétaire institutionnel après 1866 et décideur des grandes transformations
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ancien hôtel Roux de Corse, actuellement lycée Montgrand located?
Ancien hôtel Roux de Corse, actuellement lycée Montgrand is located in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, France.
When was Ancien hôtel Roux de Corse, actuellement lycée Montgrand built?
Ancien hôtel Roux de Corse, actuellement lycée Montgrand dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Ancien hôtel Roux de Corse, actuellement lycée Montgrand open to visitors?
Ancien hôtel Roux de Corse, actuellement lycée Montgrand is currently closed to visitors.