Maison située 2-2bis rue Traverse et 20 rue de Denver
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison située 2-2bis rue Traverse et 20 rue de Denver, located in Brest (Département 29), 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
- Brest, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.3838, -4.4876
- Mérimée Reference
- PA29000111
A rare example of Brest's domestic architecture between the wars, this house on rue Traverse embodies the resilience of a working-class neighbourhood shaped by the modernity of the port.
History
At the heart of a Brest resolutely turned towards the sea and its arsenal, the house at 2-2bis rue Traverse and 20 rue de Denver is one of the rare preserved examples of Brest's civilian housing prior to the bombings of the Second World War. Its survival in an urban fabric that was massively rebuilt after 1944 gives it an exceptional heritage and memorial value, as an authentic fragment of the city before the turmoil. Brest is a city apart in the French architectural landscape. Almost 80% of the city was wiped out during the fighting in the summer of 1944, but it was completely rebuilt according to the plans of Jean-Baptiste Mathon and his team at the instigation of the French government, giving rise to a modernist urban ensemble that is itself a World Heritage Site. Against this backdrop of an almost total clean sweep, each pre-war building becomes a living document, a tangible vestige of the urban morphology that has disappeared. The house stands out for its location at the corner of two lanes, typical of the buildings of the first half of the twentieth century, which sought to optimise the narrow plots of land in the workers' and seafarers' neighbourhoods close to the port. Its size and architectural treatment reflect the local building practices of the time: sobriety in the composition, a certain bourgeois dignity in the details, while responding to the constraints of the Breton climate. Visiting this building, listed as a Historic Monument since 2023, means engaging in a unique dialogue between past and present, between the lost Brest and the rebuilt city that surrounds it. The façades reveal to the attentive eye the traces of local craftsmanship, carefully studied proportions and materials that tell the story of the geography and economy of the Finistère region. The official recognition of this long-ignored heritage reflects a recent realisation that modest, everyday buildings deserve just as much protection as grand aristocratic mansions. This humble, resilient, working-class house in Brest is a reflection of the city itself.
Architecture
The house on rue Traverse and rue Denver is typical of Breton urban construction in the first half of the twentieth century, a pivotal period when regional traditions met the contributions of rationalist and Beaux-Arts architecture. Its corner location, at the junction of two lanes, creates a broken façade that enlivens the composition and gives the building a strong presence in the surrounding urban fabric. The walls, probably made of local granite or plastered rubble as was common practice in Brest at the beginning of the 20th century, bear witness to the robust construction typical of Finistère. The use of Kersanton stone, lime rendering and decorative elements in worked ashlar are all evidence of the care taken with appearance, despite the building's popular character. The roof, probably made of natural slate from Anjou or Brittany according to regional custom, has steep slopes adapted to the heavy rainfall on the Atlantic coast. The treatment of the openings - vertically proportioned windows inherited from the 19th century, emphasised lintels, stone sills - reveals a balanced composition that focuses on the dignity of the dwelling without becoming ostentatious. Details typical of the inter-war period, such as simplified mouldings or wrought ironwork, can be found on the façades, marking the transition between the historicist language of the 19th century and the modernist sobriety that came to the fore after the war.
Related Figures
Jean-Baptiste Mathon — architecte en chef de la reconstruction de Brest après 1945, dont l'œuvre forme le contexte urbain entourant ce rescapéHermann-Bernhard Ramcke — général allemand commandant la garnison de Brest en 1944, dont la résistance prolongée causa la destruction quasi totale de la villeEugène Claudius-Petit — ministre de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme (1948-1953), qui supervisa le chantier de la Brest nouvelleLes familles de marins et ouvriers de l'arsenal — habitants anonymes qui façonnèrent l'identité sociale et culturelle du quartier au fil des décennies
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison située 2-2bis rue Traverse et 20 rue de Denver located?
Maison située 2-2bis rue Traverse et 20 rue de Denver is located in Brest, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Maison située 2-2bis rue Traverse et 20 rue de Denver built?
Maison située 2-2bis rue Traverse et 20 rue de Denver dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Maison située 2-2bis rue Traverse et 20 rue de Denver open to visitors?
Maison située 2-2bis rue Traverse et 20 rue de Denver is currently closed to visitors.