The Canebière Building : A Vision of Reconstruction in Marseille

On October 28, 1938, the Les Nouvelles Galeries department store on La Canebière burned down, leaving a scar in the heart of the city centre. After the end of the Second World War, studies for the construction of a new building began in 1947. René Egger and Fernand Pouillon took part in the project alongside their work on the reconstruction of the Old Port, joined in particular by Jean-Louis Sourdeau, president of the Order of Architects.

The office-building programme initially selected was abandoned during construction in favour of a mixed-use development incorporating a majority of apartments. This change, which created major difficulties for the architects, resulted from the suspension of subsidies allocated to office buildings, which were henceforth redirected toward housing.

The architects designed a complex that adapts to its immediate surroundings and to the through-plot nature of the site. This resulted in a first elongated volume, following the line of La Canebière, and curving to meet the buildings on rue Vincent Scotto. The presence of a shopping arcade on the ground floor, crossed by two pedestrian passages, connects the building to the street, which it effectively extends.

A second U-shaped structure, formed by the junction of two projecting sections, is located on rue Thubaneau. This formal choice, combined with stepped terrace floors, introduces a sense of openness within an already very dense urban fabric. The two parts are linked by a central core containing horizontal and vertical circulation, whose limited depth allows two small courtyards to be created to the east and west.

These multiple volumes, some of which feature fluid lines, are contrasted by a façade design that is far more regular and rigorous, originally conceived for office use. The various gridded surfaces, designed like a structural lattice, recall the curtain walls of American high-rise buildings developed in the first half of the 20th century, the only difference being that here the lattice is made of concrete.

On the Canebière side, the first two floors, originally intended for offices and slightly projecting over the street, are distinguished by the use of ribs and riveted metal bands, replacing concrete slats. The ground floor is also treated independently, raised in glass blocks. Each function is thus expressed through a variation in architectural treatment, making it legible from the outside without compromising the overall harmony of the composition.

This modern architectural language did not meet with unanimous approval among the people of Marseille. Gaston Defferre, Mayor of Marseille from 1953 to 1986, was particularly critical of the building, accusing it of “destroying the harmony of La Canebière,” which since the Second Empire has had the appearance of a Haussmann-style boulevard. However, the building’s designation as a protected heritage site in 2006 confirms its architectural value. Its quality is evident both in the innovative forms employed and in its bright interior spaces, which offer a wide range of possibilities for use and layout.

The architect and urban planner Fernand Pouillon (1912–1986) trained at the Marseille Regional School of Architecture, where he studied under Gaston Castel, a major figure in the local architectural scene. A prolific builder during the post-war reconstruction period, he was responsible for 50,000 housing units as well as numerous public facilities and buildings in Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, and the Paris region (including the residence of Parc de Meudon-la-Forêt, 1957, and the housing development of Point du Jour in Boulogne-Billancourt, 1959–1963), as well as in Algeria and Iran. From 1951 onward, as deputy chief architect, he notably oversaw the completion of the reconstruction of the Vieux-Port district alongside André Devin.

In an approach that integrates an understanding of local culture and inhabitants’ customs, Pouillon favoured the use of durable materials, combining stone, wood, and ceramics with concrete, metal, and glass, and bringing together modern lines with vernacular influences.

René Egger (1915–2016) studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, first in Paris in the atelier of Roger-Henri Expert, and later in Marseille when the school was relocated there during the Occupation. In 1942, having just graduated, he became a technical advisor to the Ministry of National Education. Although this position did not allow him to obtain commissions until the Liberation, it led to his appointment as architecte ordinaire (1947) and later architecte en chef (1958) for the Civil Buildings and National Palaces.

His professional practice was largely defined by the design of schools and universities during a period of mass expansion in higher education. He notably designed, in collaboration with a team of project architects, the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Marseille (1955–1958), the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Aix-en-Provence (1962–1966), in Montpellier (1964–1966), and the Faculty of Law and Arts in Nice (1965–1967). Through these projects, René Egger helped renew the architecture and urban planning of French university campuses, establishing himself as a specialist in the field.

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