Description
A masterpiece by the Prouvé brothers by the sea
Also known as “Villa Saint-Clair”, this holiday home was designed between 1949 and 1951 for the Dollander family (who also owned a “Maison Dollander” in Nancy designed by Jean Prouvé). It was designed by Henri Prouvé, the architect, and built by his brother Jean, the builder.
The villa is set in an exceptional location on the Lavandou seafront, facing the magnificent Saint-Clair beach, on 2,493 m² of enclosed landscaped grounds planted with Mediterranean species.
With a surface area of around 100 m², the main villa comprises a day area (6 x 6 m) and a night area (3 x 10 m), linked by a covered gallery. The living area includes a lounge, dining room and kitchen. The night area has three bedrooms and a shower room.The property also includes an 85 m² outbuilding (a former garage that has recently been extended and refurbished), comprising a lounge, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a garage.
Villa Dollander has been a listed building since 1991.
A machined work
The house was built between 1949 and 1951, starting with the bedroom and living room. In May and June 1951, the kitchen was added. All the components were manufactured in Maxéville and transported by rail, then assembled by Jean Prouvé according to plans drawn up by his brother.
The house is typical of the constructive solutions developed by Jean Prouvé to propose an industrialised architecture for housing. Laid on a slab, the house’s construction system is based around a central beam in folded sheet steel supported by porticos, giving the whole structure a very light feel. The external posts are made of tubular steel, while the internal panels are made of wooden battens. The doors are made of folded sheet metal using a process invented in the Maxéville factories. The recessed steel troughs that make up the roof act as bracing. The back walls are of exposed stone.
The Villa Dollander is based on the axial portico construction system that Jean Prouvé began developing in 1946 in the Maxéville factories. In 1949, the Standard house was commissioned by the Ministry of Reconstruction and Urban Planning, with a prototype exhibited at the Salon des arts ménagers in 1950. A steel portico supporting a ridge beam was reproduced in around fifteen examples: one in Royan, two in Tourcoing and the others in Meudon, where the houses were built on a masonry structure. Finally, the Tropicale house is a variant with sunbreakers and the recurring use of aluminium to lighten the structure and transport it.
A landscape house
The Dollander villa is one of the Prouvé brothers’ most accomplished creations in terms of its relationship with the sea and the landscape. Thanks to the full-height glass walls, the different spaces face the sea and the garden. The porthole-pierced panels characteristic of Jean Prouvé’s work create a play of light and a continuous porosity between interior and exterior.
Inside, the terracotta tiled floor, the partitions and ceilings covered in natural wood panelling or painted in soft colours, and the bamboo canopy create a warm, bright atmosphere.
The villa’s original furnishings were sold several years ago.
Jean Prouvé, the builder
“There is no difference between building a piece of furniture and building a house”
Jean Prouvé, Une architecture par l’industrie, Zurich, Artémis, 1971
As an architect, engineer and designer, Jean Prouvé left a unique mark on the history of architecture and construction.
An ironmonger in Nancy during his early years, Jean Prouvé became a “builder” in 1930, quickly moving away from decorative ironwork towards industrial furniture adapted to the technical advances of the 20th century. He used metal for the finishing work on projects in collaboration with the modern architects of his time: Eugène Beaudoin and Marcel Lods for La maison du peuple in Clichy-sur-Seine, and Pierre Jeanneret for a model of a detachable pavilion (8X8, 1941).
With standardised construction using prefabricated parts, Jean Prouvé reached the realm of domestic architecture. The devastation caused by the Second World War highlighted the need to rebuild housing on a large scale and at lower cost.
Against this backdrop of urgency, the Ministry of Reconstruction and Urban Planning commissioned Jean Prouvé to build several pavilions to experiment with the system of houses assembled from machined parts in the Maxéville (Nancy) workshop, where he experimented with folded sheet metal, which became the symbol of his technical genius.
In 1949, Jean Prouvé built the Métropoles, a series of 25 homes constructed using a fully prefabricated process. The central portal frame structure was reused in the industrialised houses of Meudon, built in the Paris suburbs with his brother Henri and the architect André Sive. The pilot development included ten Standard houses, called “Métropole”, with a stone wall and base. Throughout his career, Jean Prouvé built a number of villas that represent the most accomplished illustration of the synthesis between industry, furniture and the construction system, most of which are now protected as Historic Monuments.
Henri Prouvé, a discreet figure
Henri Prouvé (1915-2012), Jean’s younger brother, studied at the Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1934 and worked at Le Corbusier’s agency, where he met Beaudouin and Lods, as well as at the Jean Prouvé workshops. He qualified as an architect in 1947, after being mobilised and then taken prisoner in 1940 in the Ardennes.
From the 1950s onwards, he designed major projects such as the Joffre Saint-Thiébaut tower in Nancy, where he set up his office, the Saint-François d’Assise church in Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, the Clos de Médreville, where he lived, the current CARSAT building on rue de Metz, the Gentilly fire station, the Montet-Octroi tower and the Centre des Nations in Vandœuvre.
He also worked with Jean Prouvé on private commissions such as the Villa Saint-Clair (1948-1951) and the Villa Lopez with architect Raymond Lopez (1951-1954).
His work has been featured in a number of exhibitions, notably in 2005 at the Cité Radieuse in Briey en Forêt.
