THE LIFE OF A MODERNIST MONUMENT HISTORIQUE

French architect Robert Mallet-Stevens designed this Modernist villa in 1932 for the Trapenard family. The 150-square meter cubist house is very urban in configuration, a ground floor for services and a raised floor for living - the piano nobile - overlooking the garden and street below. The villa's spatial distribution takes its users on a veritable architectural promenade, from sidewalk to rooftop solarium via a long linear coursive, two iconic staircases and a spectacularly lit salon with mosaic parquet. The elegance of its floorplan and generosity of its proportions were immediately praised in major French reviews, L'Architecte and Architecture d'Aujourd'hui.

Among all his realisations, the Villa Trapenard brings Mallet-Stevens closest to the architecture of his European contemporaries Van Doesburg and Le Corbusier, and to the Modernist movement to which they prescribed. Mallet-Stevens' last private house was his most modest commission, built on land intended for affordable, transit-oriented residential development in a garden city suburb of sorts. Much about this job however contrasted with Mallet-Stevens' work for elite clients such as Paul Poiret in Mézy-sur-Seine, Charles and Marie-Laure Noailles in Hyerès and Paul Cavrois in Croix. For an architect who never had the opportunity to participate in post-Second World War rebuilding efforts, the villa Trapenard can be seen as a manifesto of what could have been. Instead of using the decorative arts to take the edge off of modernity, Mallet-Stevens fully assumes the architecture's functionality, emphasising the play of shadow and light.

Following the Centre Pompidou's retrospective exhibit on Mallet-Stevens in 2005, the Villa Trapenard was listed a monument historique inscrit, or historic monument of regional importance. This designation applies to the villa in its entirety, interior and exterior, as well as its street-side gate. In addition to its architectural significance, the villa is recognised for its excellent state of preservation, with the continuation of its original single-family residential use adding to its authenticity. Third property owners to occupy the villa since 1932, the Simpson-Meyer family is honored to have obtained the villa's listing as monument historique classé,  or historic monument of national importance, in 2024. 

The above image shows the Villa Trapenard (pink pin) within the dense historic fabric: individual historic monuments and their buffer zones (pink circles) and wider sectors of remarkable heritage, or sites patrimoniaux remarquables (blue area). In addition to raising awareness for the exceptional nature of built forms, such designations provide a strict framework for property owners seeking to renovate existing edifices.

Source: http://atlas.patrimoines.culture.fr/