Villa Le Caruhel
MonumentHidden Treasure
Villa Le Caruhel, located in Etables-sur-Mer (Département 22), 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
- Etables-sur-Mer, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.6409, -2.8268
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089146
Joyau Art déco breton face à la Manche, la villa Le Caruhel éblouit par ses mosaïques d'Odorico et ses ferronneries d'Edgar Brandt inspirées des fonds sous-marins dessinés par Mathurin Méheut.
History
Nestling on a seaside estate in Étables-sur-Mer, on the north coast of the Côtes-d'Armor department, the Villa Le Caruhel is one of the most refined holiday residences that the first quarter of the 20th century bequeathed to Brittany. Far removed from the world's major resorts, it embodies a discreet but sovereign luxury, that of an era when the art of seaside living was combined with the most demanding decorative ambitions. What makes the villa absolutely unique is the coherence of its ornamental programme: an entire underwater universe - seaweed, shells, fish, jellyfish - unfurls its forms on the floor and garden mosaics by Isidore Odorico, while the staircase banisters and ironwork railings, created by the workshops of Edgar Brandt and Raymond Subes, seem to undulate like petrified seabeds. All of this is orchestrated according to the naturalistic drawings of Mathurin Méheut, the brilliant Breton painter whose scientific precision and artistic sensitivity transform each detail into a work of art in its own right. The architecture itself creates a subtle dialogue between the modernity of the 1920s and the serenity of neo-classicism: two slender storeys, clean volumes, a façade whose rigour softens as soon as the eye catches the ornamentation. The visit reveals a stratification of time: the original villa (circa 1913) and the ambitious extension commissioned by Fricotelle after 1925 now form a perfectly homogeneous whole. The Japanese garden, probably laid out when the house was first built, is a space in its own right: its mosaic-clad cascade extends the decorative vocabulary of the interior to the outside, creating a poetic continuity between the residence and its plant setting. Bamboos, ponds and rock gardens create a haven of contemplation that is always surprised by the sight of the Brittany Sea. For heritage enthusiasts, photographers and lovers of the decorative arts, Le Caruhel is a rare find: a monument listed as a Monument Historique since 2009, still little known to the general public, and all the more precious for that.
Architecture
Villa Le Caruhel is a two-storey, generously proportioned building that contrasts with the original modest structure built in 1913. Jean de La Morinerie's work after 1925 gave it a decidedly composite look: the volumes are those of a modernist villa from the Roaring Twenties - low-pitched roof, smooth facades, well-balanced bays - while the ornamental details evoke a discreet neo-classical vocabulary, with pilasters, cornices and moulded surrounds softening the sobriety of the plan. The interior is the villa's real architectural treasure. The exceptionally coherent decorative programme turns each space into a plunge into a stylised underwater world. Isidore Odorico's mosaics cover the floors and walls with aquatic compositions in which anemones, seahorses and seaweed unfurl in tesserae of iridescent colours. The ironwork by Edgar Brandt and Raymond Subes - stair railings, banisters, railings - undulates in plant and marine volutes forged with goldsmith-like precision. The entire ensemble is based on the naturalistic drawings of Mathurin Méheut, whose precise, sensitive brushstrokes unify the decorative bestiary of the entire residence. The Japanese garden, originally laid out around 1913, extends the spirit of the villa outside. Its cascade, covered in mosaics in the same vein as the interiors, creates a rare artistic continuity between inside and outside. Ponds, rockeries and evergreen vegetation create a space of silence and contemplation, a testament to the Japanese style that had a profound influence on bourgeois tastes in early-twentieth-century France.
Related Figures
Fricotelle — riche importateur de papier à cigarettes, acquéreur de la villa en 1925 et commanditaire de son agrandissement monumentalJean de La Morinerie — architecte parisien auteur de l'agrandissement et du projet décoratif d'ensemble après 1925Mathurin Méheut — peintre et illustrateur breton (1882-1958), auteur des dessins de faune et flore marines ayant inspiré toute la décorationEdgar Brandt — maître ferronnier d'art parisien de renommée internationale, auteur des ferronneries de la villaRaymond Subes — ferronnier d'art, collaborateur et contemporain de Brandt, ayant participé aux œuvres métalliquesIsidore Odorico — mosaïste d'origine italienne installé à Rennes, auteur des mosaïques intérieures et de la cascade du jardin
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Villa Le Caruhel located?
Villa Le Caruhel is located in Etables-sur-Mer, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Villa Le Caruhel built?
Villa Le Caruhel dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Villa Le Caruhel open to visitors?
Villa Le Caruhel is currently closed to visitors.
