Hôtel Godfray

The property offers 380 m² of living space spread over four levels, featuring exceptional volumes and unobstructed views on each floor.

The ground/garden floor includes an entrance, two independent suites with kitchenettes and shower rooms (one opening onto a bamboo garden), and a garage.

The first floor features a stunning, south-north facing living space with double-height ceilings. It comprises a living area with a fireplace on the garden side, a dining area opening onto a balcony lined with wisteria, a library/lounge, and an independent kitchen with a central island, pantry, and toilet.

The second floor overlooks the living room and consists of a vast mezzanine with a library/lounge, a sunlit office area, a large master suite with a bathroom, and a laundry area.

The top floor includes a through-suite with a shower room and access to a beautiful 60 m² landscaped terrace facing south. The terrace features a covered section and a summer kitchen.

In the basement, three cellars and a wine cellar complete the property.

The townhouse is located in Boulogne Nord, in the Princes district, at the heart of the 1930s architectural trail. It enjoys absolute tranquility and a privileged setting on one of the city’s most elegant streets, lined with villas and townhouses often built for artists.

Fischer constructed the Hôtel Godfray using reinforced concrete with a mixed load-bearing structure, combining traditional load-bearing party walls and an irregular grid of interior columns. The building seamlessly integrates into the urban fabric. Its fan-shaped plan follows the contours of the plot, with a convex street facade featuring a smooth, minimalist design dominated by solid surfaces.

True to the modernist spirit of synthesizing the arts, the architect aimed to incorporate an artistic dimension into his work, particularly through polychromy to highlight the architectural structure. Originally, the white facade was accented with multiple colors: the ground floor was painted yellow, the door and window frames green, and the terrace awning red.

Inside, the curve motif repeats: the living spaces are arranged concentrically, following the rounded shape of the main facade.

A half-level and a spiral staircase animate the space, creating a rich spatial experience with multiple viewpoints. The interior spaces are distributed traditionally: service areas on the ground floor, reception rooms on the first floor, and living spaces on the second floor.

Louis-Raymond Fischer (1898–1988) studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the Redon studio but never graduated, having lost interest in the academicism taught there. He left France to travel across Europe and the United States, working in the studios of some of the most eminent modernist architects, such as Alfred Loos, Walter Gropius, and Frank Lloyd Wright. These experiences shaped his purist approach to architecture. Upon returning to Paris, he worked with Michel Roux-Spitz, Henri Sauvage, Hector Guimard, Auguste Perret, and François Hennebique.

Fischer was a key figure in the International Style during the 1920s and 1930s. He designed about ten modern villas, including three in Boulogne. He is best known for the villa on Rue Denfert-Rochereau, built for Suzanne Dubin near the villas Cook and Collinet, designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Robert Mallet-Stevens.