Immeuble
Monument
Immeuble, located in Lille (Nord), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Lille, Nord, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.6317, 3.0623
- Mérimée Reference
- PA59000112
A jewel of the Lille bourgeoisie at the end of the 19th century, this Haussmann-style building boasts a stunning interior: a Moorish rotunda lounge, marble mosaics and painted ceilings commissioned by a paper magnate.
History
In the heart of Lille, behind a bourgeois façade typical of the last quarter of the 19th century, lies one of the most fascinating private interiors in northern France. Commissioned by Alexandre Cannone, a prosperous industrialist in the paper industry, this building is much more than just a place to live: it is a manifesto of the taste and social ambition of a provincial bourgeoisie at the height of its prosperity. What fundamentally sets this building apart from its neighbours is the extraordinary richness of its interior spaces, designed as a veritable showcase. The marble entrance hall, adorned with finely worked mosaics and figures painted on the door leaves, immediately strikes visitors with its measured splendour. Each room reveals a different decorative ambition, a skilful eclecticism typical of the Victorian era. The centrepiece is undoubtedly the Moorish rotunda salon, an absolute curiosity that bears witness to the Orientalist fascination that swept through cultured Europe in the 1880s. This fashion, popularised by the World's Fairs and trips to the Orient, makes a remarkably bold appearance here in a flat in Lille. In contrast, a bedroom with a ceiling decorated with a religious scene reminds us that piety and ostentation were not contradictory in the Catholic bourgeoisie of the North. The coffered ceiling and inlaid parquet flooring in another room complete this decorative panorama of rare stylistic coherence, where every detail - woodwork, stuccowork, mosaics - has been thought out with an overall logic in mind. Protected as a Historic Monument since 2005, this building remains an irreplaceable testimony to the art of living of the great industrial families of the North in the early days of the Belle Époque.
Architecture
The building is part of the eclectic architectural vocabulary characteristic of the last quarter of the 19th century, where historical references - neo-Renaissance, neo-classicism, orientalism - coexist with the technical mastery typical of industrial modernity. The facade, built according to Haussmannian canons adapted to the tastes of Lille, probably features a regular arrangement of bays, carefully-crafted mouldings and cornices, typical of the bourgeois architectural production of this period in the north of France. However, it is the interior that represents the building's main architectural interest. The marble entrance hall, covered in polychrome mosaics, immediately introduces a luxurious decorative vocabulary. The doors adorned with painted figures blur the boundary between architecture and the decorative arts. The succession of ceremonial rooms reveals a logic of social staging typical of the prestigious flats of the Belle Époque: each space has its own decorative register, from the coffered ceiling to the parquet flooring in geometric marquetry, from the sculpted woodwork to the painted stuccowork. The Moorish rotunda lounge is the most unusual room in the ensemble. The rotunda shape, borrowed from learned architecture, houses an Oriental-inspired décor - horseshoe arches, geometric motifs and arabesques - that evokes the grand Moorish salons of European aristocratic residences of the same period. This formal audacity, combined with the bedroom with its religious ceiling, perfectly illustrates the stylistic freedom claimed by a bourgeoisie intent on asserting its culture as much as its wealth.
Related Figures
Alexandre Cannone — industriel lillois du secteur papetier, commanditaire de l'immeuble et de son décor intérieurDavid — peintre lillois, auteur des décors peints des pièces d'apparat entre 1886 et 1892Les artisans mosaïstes — anonymes, responsables des mosaïques du hall en marbreL'architecte concepteur — non identifié, représentant de l'éclectisme bourgeois lillois de la fin du XIXe siècle
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Immeuble located?
Immeuble is located in Lille, Nord department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Immeuble built?
Immeuble dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Immeuble open to visitors?
Immeuble is currently closed to visitors.