Villa Sous les Pins, anciennement dénommée Gigi
Monument
Villa Sous les Pins, anciennement dénommée Gigi, located in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (Pas-de-Calais), 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
- Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.5162, 1.6042
- Mérimée Reference
- PA62000016
The discreet jewel of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, Villa Sous les Pins elegantly combines neo-English influences with neo-Basque accents, testifying to the genius of a trio of architects who shaped the chicest seaside resort in the north.
History
Nestling in the residential district of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, Villa Sous les Pins - formerly known as Villa Gigi - is one of those discreet residences that better than any other embody the soul of an exceptional seaside resort. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1997, it represents a precious fragment of an architectural heritage that the twentieth century invented almost from scratch between the dunes and umbrella pines of the Pas-de-Calais. What makes this villa truly unique is the unexpected dialogue it engages in between two stylistic universes that are, on the face of it, far apart: English Revival, with its elaborate roof volumes, bow windows and functional sobriety inherited from British cottages, and Neo-Basque, with its warm colours and painted wooden ornamentation reminiscent of Labouradine houses. This architectural mix, far from being incoherent, produces a refined harmony that the Mérimée record itself praises for its "great rigour and sobriety". To visit Villa Sous les Pins is first and foremost to immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of Le Touquet as it was dreamt up by a cosmopolitan elite between the wars. Viewed from the street lined with Scots pine trees, the villa reveals its carefully composed volumes, its facades punctuated by contrasting frames and its characteristic roof lines. It is a perfect illustration of the ambitious residential programme that made Le Touquet an urban planning model admired throughout Europe. The setting is a perfect complement to the experience: the neighbourhood of Touquet villas is ideal for an architectural stroll, and Villa Sous les Pins is part of a coherent group of seaside residences from the Belle Époque and the Roaring Twenties. For lovers of regional architecture and seaside resorts, this discovery is a moment of contemplation as intimate as it is instructive.
Architecture
Villa Sous les Pins is an eloquent illustration of the stylistic syncretism that characterised Touquet's architectural production in the first quarter of the 20th century. Its main style oscillates between English Revival - a direct legacy of the privileged links that the resort maintained with British clients and architects - and Neo-Basque, a fashionable trend at the time in elite French holiday resorts, from the Basque coast to the Channel beaches. The result is an architecture of character, both sober and expressive, where the rigour of the volumes is tempered by selected ornamentation. The façades feature carefully crafted painted wooden frames, probably in contrasting shades of white and dark brown in the neo-Basque tradition, while the roof volumes - steeply pitched roofs, dormer windows and possible bow windows - evoke the cottages of the Highlands or English Victorian suburbs. The villa is set in a garden surrounded by pine trees, giving it that green setting typical of Touquet residences, where architecture and forest landscape intentionally merge. The materials used follow the regional building practices of the period: rendering or light-coloured plaster for the walls, wood cladding for the corbels and galleries, and tiles or slate for the roof. The overall impression is one of balance and compositional mastery, which the Mérimée record sums up in two essential qualities: rigour and sobriety, rare architectural virtues that explain its enduring charm.
Related Figures
Le trio d'architectes touquettois (non identifiés nominativement dans les sources conservées) — concepteurs de la villa et auteurs de nombreuses réalisations majeures à Le Touquet-Paris-PlageJohn Whitley — promoteur britannique cofondateur du Touquet-Paris-Plage, à l'origine du développement résidentiel de la stationAllan Stoneham — co-aménageur du Touquet qui contribua à en faire une destination franco-britannique d'exceptionLes premiers propriétaires de la villa Gigi — probables représentants de la haute bourgeoisie parisienne ou belge, figure-type des villégiaturistes touquettois du début du XXe siècle
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Villa Sous les Pins, anciennement dénommée Gigi located?
Villa Sous les Pins, anciennement dénommée Gigi is located in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Villa Sous les Pins, anciennement dénommée Gigi built?
Villa Sous les Pins, anciennement dénommée Gigi dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Villa Sous les Pins, anciennement dénommée Gigi open to visitors?
Villa Sous les Pins, anciennement dénommée Gigi is currently closed to visitors.