Maison
Monument
Maison, located in Cambrai (Nord), 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
- Cambrai, Nord, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.1784, 3.2332
- Mérimée Reference
- PA59000182
A bourgeois jewel of Cambrésian reconstruction, this 1922 residence boasts a unique blend of decoration: Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Louis XV style all under one roof.
History
In the heart of Cambrai, a town ravaged by the Great War and patiently rebuilt between the wars, this bourgeois house built in 1922 bears rare and precious witness to an era when domestic architecture sought to reconcile modernity and tradition. Far from being a simple residence, it embodies all the ambitions of a provincial bourgeoisie anxious to assert its rank while embracing the comforts of the new century. Its L-shaped silhouette, developed around an intimate rectangular garden, reveals a meticulous conception of private space. The subsequent construction of a terrace on the first floor, accessible by a monumental staircase, gradually transformed this garden into a setting of plants and shrubs, giving the whole an additional architectural depth and a certain theatricality to the staging of the volumes. But it is the interior that really sets this residence apart. Each room seems to belong to a distinct decorative universe, as if the owners had wanted to offer their guests a journey through the styles of French history. From Neo-Renaissance to Louis XV, from sinuous Art Nouveau to the sharp geometries of Art Deco, this stylistic inventory forms a kaleidoscope without equal in the region. This cohabitation, which might seem incongruous, actually reveals the sophistication of an approach inherited from the Second Empire: the bourgeois home as a decorative cabinet of curiosities, where each living room tells a story and expresses a culture. Far from being a contradiction, this deliberate diversity testifies to a keen sense of social representation and a taste for beauty in all its forms. Listed as a Historic Monument since 2013, this Cambrian residence is much more than a symbol of post-war reconstruction: it is a mirror of the bourgeois soul of the early 20th century, fascinating in its contradictions and magnificent in its decorative excesses.
Architecture
The house has an L-shaped floor plan, a classic configuration for a middle-class residence, enabling the reception rooms and private areas to be arranged around an enclosed garden, protected from outside view. The elevation, typical of Cambrian reconstruction buildings, is probably a combination of brick and rendering, the dominant materials in buildings in northern France in the early 20th century. The moderately pitched roof, in keeping with regional standards, crowns a building whose sober massing contrasts with the richness of the interiors. The subsequent addition of a terrace on the first floor, accessed by a monumental staircase, is the most striking architectural feature of the façade. This staircase, described as imposing by the sources, creates a strong vertical axis that structures the composition and lends a certain solemnity to the whole. The terrace, by reducing the size of the original garden, creates a dialogue between the full and the empty, between the cut stone and the contained vegetation. The interior is the real masterpiece of the residence. Each space is treated in a distinct stylistic register: pilastered woodwork and medallions for the Neo-Renaissance, geometric lines and gilding for Art Deco, pastel-coloured stucco and painted furniture for Louis XVI and Louis XV, vegetal curves and iridescent stained glass for Art Nouveau. Far from being anarchic, this accumulation reflects very high quality craftsmanship and a sense of total decoration inherited from the heyday of 19th-century France.
Related Figures
Propriétaire commanditaire (1922) — notable cambrésien, probablement issu du monde industriel ou commercial, à l'origine du programme décoratif exceptionnelArchitecte de la reconstruction cambrésienne — professionnel œuvrant dans le cadre du vaste chantier de rebâtissement de Cambrai après 1918Artisans décorateurs régionaux (années 1920) — auteurs des ensembles décoratifs intérieurs, représentatifs des ateliers du Nord spécialisés dans les styles historicistes et Art DécoInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques (2013) — responsables de l'instruction du dossier d'inscription ayant reconnu la valeur patrimoniale exceptionnelle de la demeure
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison located?
Maison is located in Cambrai, Nord department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Maison built?
Maison dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Maison open to visitors?
Maison is currently closed to visitors.