Immeuble
MonumentHidden Treasure
Élégant immeuble aixois du XVIIIe siècle, témoin de l'apogée architectural de la ville des Lumières, où façades en pierre de Bibémus et balcons en fer forgé composent une partition baroque provençale d'exception.
History
In the heart of Aix-en-Provence, a city whose 18th-century heyday was its urban golden age, this listed building epitomises the quintessential Provencal art of building at its height. Built at a time when members of parliament, nobles of the cloth and wealthy merchants vied with each other in elegance to provide the capital of Provence with homes worthy of their rank, it was part of the great architectural renewal movement that transformed the face of the city of King René once and for all. What really sets this building apart is the synthesis it achieves between French classical rigour and southern Baroque sensuality. The golden limestone, extracted from local quarries that were also used to paint Cézanne's canvases, gives the façade a luminous warmth that is continually transformed by the hours of the day, from the creamy white of the morning to the burnt gold of the sunset. The modillions - moulded cornices, elaborate window surrounds, expressive masks - bear witness to the hand of stonemasons who mastered to perfection the decorative repertoire of their time. To visit this building is to immerse yourself in the living fabric of Vieil-Aix, a district where every street conceals a private mansion, a murmuring fountain or a secret courtyard. Its facade can be discovered as you stroll along, inviting your gaze to linger on every sculptural detail and every ornate balcony. The monument sits side by side with the grand town houses of Aix, which form one of the most coherent groups of eighteenth-century architecture in France. The setting is that of Aix-en-Provence in all its splendour: a stone's throw from the plane tree-shaded courtyards, the thermal fountains and the Provençal markets that have set the pace of life in the city for centuries. This little masterpiece of southern civil architecture is well worth a visit, whether you're a keen observer or just curious, to see what stone has to say about time and the people who have shaped it.
Architecture
The architecture of this building is representative of the classical Provencal style of the 18th century, an original synthesis between the canons of French classicism disseminated from Paris and Versailles and the southern building tradition inherited from centuries of mastery of local limestone. The symmetrical, multi-storey facade features a robust ground floor, noble upper storeys with generously proportioned windows and a cornice with modillions, following the classic tripartite layout. The materials used are those of the great Aix tradition: stone from Bibémus or the Le Tholonet quarries, the fine-grained shell limestone that gives the buildings their characteristic hue, ranging from ivory white to golden ochre, depending on the amount of sunlight. The sculpted elements - pilaster capitals, ornate keystones, mascarons and balcony brackets - reveal the virtuosity of Provençal stonemasons, trained in a decorative iconography combining acanthus leaves, cartouches and floral motifs. The wrought-iron balconies, with their scrolls worked in the style of the wrought-iron craftsmen of the Midi, are one of the most immediately attractive features of the composition. The interior layout probably follows the typical layout of Aix apartment blocks from the Age of Enlightenment: a carriage entrance or monumental entrance leading to a vestibule and a staircase with a wrought-iron or stone banister, leading to several levels of accommodation with adjoining reception rooms. This type of spatial organisation, which is highly codified, optimises the distribution of natural light while meeting the social representation requirements of the wealthy clientele of the period.
Related Figures
Laurent Vallon — architecte majeur d'Aix-en-Provence au XVIIIe siècle, dont l'influence sur l'architecture civile locale fut déterminanteJean-Baptiste Franque — architecte provençal actif dans la première moitié du XVIIIe siècle, formé à Rome, représentatif du courant baroque méridionalLes conseillers au Parlement de Provence — commanditaires types de tels immeubles, figures dominantes de la société aixoise d'Ancien RégimeLes compagnons tailleurs de pierre — artisans anonymes dont la maîtrise technique est lisible dans chaque moulure de la façadeLes ferronniers provençaux — spécialistes du fer forgé dont les créations ornementales constituent une signature de l'art décoratif aixois du XVIIIe siècle
