Maison 9 rue Le-Corbusier
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison 9 rue Le-Corbusier, located in Pessac (Gironde), is a modern edifice built in the 19th-20th centuries. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Modern (19th-20th century)
- Location
- Pessac, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.7992, -0.6476
- Mérimée Reference
- PA33000244
Jewel of the modern movement in Pessac, this house designed by Le Corbusier embodies the architectural revolution of the 1920s: roof terrace, free façade and pilotis for a reinvented style of living.
History
At the heart of the Quartiers Modernes Frugès district in Pessac, the house at 9 rue Le Corbusier is part of one of the boldest urban planning experiments of the 20th century. Commissioned by industrialist Henri Frugès from Charles-Édouard Jeanneret - known as Le Corbusier - between 1924 and 1926, this model working-class housing estate was intended to embody a new art of living, based on light, space and standardised construction. Each house in the development is a variation on a coherent architectural theme, with a number of different types: terraced houses, detached houses and staggered houses. What makes the house at 9 rue Le Corbusier truly unique is that it demonstrates the practical application of the famous "Five Points of Modern Architecture" formulated by Le Corbusier: the stilts free up the ground floor, the flat roof reclaims nature, the free plan abandons load-bearing partitions, the entablature window expands the panorama and the free facade frees itself from structure. In this residential and accessible context, these revolutionary principles take on an almost utopian dimension. To visit this house is to immerse yourself in a life-size laboratory of modernity. The building, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 as part of the network of 17 Le Corbusier sites, has survived the decades with the inevitable transformations that its successive occupants have imposed on it - extensions, partitioning, changes to openings - making its study all the more fascinating. The story of these alterations is itself a lesson in architecture: it questions the relationship between a theoretical ideal and the day-to-day reality of living. The surrounding area, the Frugès district in its entirety, offers visitors an unusual architectural walk just a few kilometres from the centre of Bordeaux. Streets of white houses, clean geometric volumes and lawned gardens make up an urban landscape that has no equivalent in France. At every street corner, the rigour of Corbusian architecture meets the changes that have been made over time, offering a lively and sometimes moving portrait of utopia confronted with ordinary life.
Architecture
The house at 9 rue Le Corbusier belongs to the formal vocabulary that Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret developed specifically for the cité Frugès, applying to the scale of workers' housing the principles they were simultaneously experimenting with in prestigious villas such as the Villa La Roche in Paris. The reinforced concrete structure, cast in situ using repetitive formwork, frees the façades from any load-bearing constraints and allows for a completely redesigned interior layout. The free plan is expressed through fluid living spaces organised around a compact vertical circulation. Externally, the house stands out for its pure geometric volumes - cubes and parallelepipeds - its surfaces rendered in white or highlighted in bold colours (ochre, Prussian blue, green), and its entablature windows, which make a radical break with the tradition of the French vertical window. The flat roof, an iconic feature of Frugès homes, transforms the fifth element of the building into a fully-fledged outdoor living space. The facades, smooth and unadorned, bear witness to a deliberate formal asceticism that was almost provocative in the context of the 1920s. The materials used - reinforced concrete, white lime plaster, metal joinery - reflect Le Corbusier's desire to industrialise construction and cut costs. The interior, in its original state, offered spaces with proportions calculated according to the principles of physiological comfort and light, with variable ceiling heights and an intuitive bioclimatic organisation maximising the sunlight in the living rooms.
Related Figures
Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret) — architecte concepteur de l'ensemble de la cité FrugèsPierre Jeanneret — associé et cousin de Le Corbusier, co-auteur du projetHenri Frugès — industriel bordelais, maître d'ouvrage et mécène visionnaire du projetCharlotte Perriand — collaboratrice de l'atelier Le Corbusier ayant contribué aux réflexions sur l'habitat minimumAndré Lurçat — architecte contemporain dont les travaux sur le logement social éclairent le contexte de la cité Frugès
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison 9 rue Le-Corbusier located?
Maison 9 rue Le-Corbusier is located in Pessac, Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Maison 9 rue Le-Corbusier built?
Maison 9 rue Le-Corbusier dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Maison 9 rue Le-Corbusier open to visitors?
Maison 9 rue Le-Corbusier is currently closed to visitors.