Immeuble dit Maison du Figaro
MonumentHidden Treasure
In the heart of old Marseilles, the Maison du Figaro boasts a beautiful 17th-century baroque façade, a rare example of Provençal civil architecture from the Louis XIV era, and is listed as a Historic Monument.
History
Nestling in the dense urban fabric of old Marseille, the Maison du Figaro is one of those civil buildings that condense several decades of Provençal and Mediterranean history into a single façade. Built in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, it belongs to the golden age when Marseille, under the impetus of Louis XIV and his intendant Colbert, underwent unprecedented urban expansion, doubling its surface area southwards and opening up to the sea with a new ambition. What makes this building so special is the quality of its architectural composition, characteristic of the late Provençal baroque style: a well-ordered facade that still reflects the codes of French classical architecture, with a hint of Italian influences, omnipresent in a port city with constant Mediterranean trade. The bay windows with their prominent mouldings, the meticulous modelling and sculpted details reveal the work of masons and stonemasons trained in the great building tradition of Marseille. The name "Maison du Figaro" evokes a popular and literary history that goes far beyond architecture. This name, charged with theatrical resonance, has helped to make the building a memorable landmark in the cultural topography of the city of Marseille, in the same way as other notable houses that line the narrow streets of the old town. To visit the Maison du Figaro is to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of Marseille under the Ancien Régime, far removed from the seaside clichés of the modern city. The building is set in an area where each stone tells the story of centuries of building, and where the Mediterranean light, shining down in the morning, reveals with particular acuity the relief of the façade in Cassis or Couronne stone, the blond limestone so typical of Marseilles construction.
Architecture
The Maison du Figaro is a fine example of the civil architecture of Marseilles in the reign of Louis XIV, combining French classical rigour with Mediterranean Baroque sensibility. Its façade, probably laid out over several storeys, adopts the tripartite layout typical of late 17th-century bourgeois homes: a ground floor treated as a plinth, noble upper storeys with windows in moulded frames, and a cornice with modillions at the top. The materials used are those of the great Provencal building tradition: limestone ashlar, extracted from quarries around Marseille, gives the façade its characteristic golden hue that works so well in the Mediterranean light. The architectural details reflect the skills of the Marseilles stonemasons of the period, with bay frames with crossettes or profiled architraves, moulded window sills and any mascarons or consoles sculpted into the spandrels. The overall composition reflects a knowledge of the architectural treatises in circulation at the time - particularly those by Vignole and François Blondel - adapted to local customs and the taste for ornament that characterised Provençal civil architecture. Inside, the layout follows the logic of the well-to-do town house of the Grand Siècle: an entrance hall leading to a balustraded staircase, adjoining reception rooms on the upper floors, and outbuildings at the rear. The French or Italian-style ceilings, moulded mantelpieces and elaborate door and window frames are all features that, while they may have been altered over the centuries, still bear witness to the domestic refinement of the period.
Related Figures
Louis XIV — dont l'édit de 1666 ordonnant l'agrandissement de Marseille crée le contexte urbain dans lequel l'immeuble est édifiéNicolas Arnoul — intendant des galères, organisateur du grand chantier d'extension de Marseille sous Louis XIVPierre Puget — sculpteur et architecte marseillais, figure tutélaire de l'art baroque provençal contemporain de la constructionJean-Baptiste Colbert — ministre de Louis XIV, promoteur du développement du port de Marseille et de l'expansion commerciale de la villeBeaumarchais — dont le personnage de Figaro, barbier sévillan né en 1775, a pu inspirer ou conforter la dénomination populaire de l'immeuble
