As part of its mission to preserve and protect twentieth-century architectural heritage, Architecture de Collection supports the work of the Docomomo association (DOcumentation et COnservation des édifices et sites du MOuvement MOderne). Our agency would like to highlight and relay its work to save the Cité-jardin de la Butte-Rouge in Châtenay-Malabry, now threatened with destruction.
This major architectural complex, emblematic of urban planning with a humanist social aim, was initiated in 1931 by Henri Sellier, then managing director of the Office des Habitations à Bon Marché de la Seine. The project, which was spread over some thirty years (1931-1960), was entrusted to architects Joseph Bassompierre, Paul de Rutté, Paul Sirvin and André Arfvidson, as well as landscape architect André Riousse. This housing estate offers a hygienic vision of housing, with a strong emphasis on the natural environment.
This garden city, where construction issues are more topical than ever, is now in jeopardy. The mayor of the commune wants to radically alter the complex to make way for new buildings. The associations Docomomo France, Sites & Monuments and France Nature Environnement are working together to ensure that the Butte-Rouge garden city is classified as a Remarkable Heritage Site, and that a project more respectful of the qualities of the existing garden city can be envisaged.
About Docomomo: Docomomo France (Association pour la DOcumentation et la COnservation des édifices et sites du MOuvement MOderne), founded in 1991, brings together people from a wide variety of backgrounds: historians, architects, students, teachers, heritage professionals, citizens and, in short, anyone motivated by their commitment to promoting and protecting 20th century architecture, town planning and landscapes.
