House of legend: what the iconic villa built by Alvar Aalto looks like near Paris
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15 Dec 2022
The house built by Alvar Aalto for art dealer Louis Carre is a fairy tale embodied in stone with a happy ending. This is a rare example of a project in which the customer and the architect understood each other perfectly
Architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976).
In order for a masterpiece building to be born, it is not enough for a brilliant architect. We also need an outstanding customer. It is as a result of their cooperation that those rare buildings arise, which the whole world looks at with admiration.
The history of the House of Carre is just such a case. The great Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and French art dealer Louis Carré have created a house in which everything is thought out to the smallest detail, every detail is appropriate and there is nothing excessive.
Carre was the son of a successful antique dealer, from whom he inherited a gallery in Paris with a branch in New York. Unlike his father, his son preferred his contemporaries to the old masters: he sold works by Paul Klee, Juan Gris, Picasso and Le Corbusier and was well acquainted with them all.
However, when it came to building his own house on a four-hectare plot located on a gentle hillside in a village southwest of Paris, Carre decided that Le Corbusier's concrete creation against the background of an idyllic rural landscape would look like a false tooth. Carre and Aalto had many mutual friends, and they personally met in 1956 at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art and immediately became friends.
The facade of the house from the side of the road.
Photo
RICHARD POWERS
The art dealer asked the architect to build him a house made of natural materials that would seem small on the outside and big on the inside. "I needed a house made of living materials," Carre said. — Probably, it was a subconscious reaction to the then fashion for glass and steel architecture. And I wanted stone, brick—because brick ages nobly—and wood. That's why Aalto was perfect for me. He felt the material very well. I think it has to do with his poetic talent — after all, he is a poet."
Alvar Aalto personally designed every detail of the finish up to the door handles
Canteen. The dining table and the lamps are made according to the Aalto designs. Chairs, designed by Alvar Aalto, Artek.
Photo
RICHARD POWERS
In the house built by Aalto, the advantages of these materials are used to the fullest. The building stands at the highest point of the site, the windows of the main residential premises are facing the garden and surrounding fields (now, however, they are obscured by trees that have stretched out for half a century).
The building itself is built of white Chartres limestone. The outlines of the lean-to roof, covered with dark blue slate, echo the relief of the site. The most impressive room in the house is a high central hall with an undulating ceiling (you can see a similar one today in the restored Aalto library in Vyborg).
Hall. The roof of a complex shape resembling a wave is an architect's favorite technique. The ceiling is lined with narrow slats of Finnish pine. Stairs lead to the living room.
Photo
RICHARD POWERS
"This ceiling is a real masterpiece. By designing it, Aalto has surpassed himself," said Carre
A fragment of the hall. The windows are located under the ceiling — this was done to protect the paintings on the walls from direct sunlight. Behind the sliding doors there are built-in wardrobes and a passage to the private part of the house where the bedrooms are located.
Photo
RICHARD POWERS
This element has become a kind of visiting card of the architect, whose very name means "wave" in Finnish. The ceiling is decorated with red Finnish pine, and the light pouring through the windows above the main entrance favorably emphasizes the rich texture of the wood. This arrangement of windows also helped to protect the paintings hanging on the walls of the hall from direct sunlight.
"This vault is a real masterpiece,— Carre said. — In designing it, Aalto surpassed himself. This is the only architect who also has excellent carpentry skills. The ceiling of the hall is something like a dome. From the earliest days of architecture, the dome has always been the pinnacle of the architect's creativity. But this vault is not a copy of something else. This is the heart of the house, the most important thing in it."
Kitchen. The earthenware dishes on the shelves have been preserved since the time of Louis Carre. The furniture is made according to the architect's sketches
Photo
RICHARD POWERS
The hall serves as a kind of central square of the house, all paths converge here. A wide short staircase leads down to a spacious living room with a view of the surrounding area. Another route leads to the dining room and office premises. The door leading to the private part of the house almost does not stand out among the doors of built-in wardrobes.
The bedrooms of Louis Carre himself and his wife Olga were located on the ground floor. Upstairs were the servants' quarters. Both outside and inside the house strikes with amazing integrity. Every detail is selected carefully and with love. Carre specially traveled to Finland to choose the furniture he needed from the Artek brand range owned by Aalto.
Living room. The chair was made according to Aalto's sketch, but the original upholstery has not been preserved. The lamps were designed by Aalto for this house, and later entered the catalog of his company Artek and began to be mass-produced. The desk is also made according to the architect's sketch. In the corner there are Piano tables, designed by Alvar Aalto for Artek.
Photo
RICHARD POWERS
The architect designed many items specifically for this house — from copper door handles to unusual combined lamps in the dining room: they illuminated both the dining table and art objects on the walls at the same time. Not satisfied with the already existing assortment of his brand, the architect came up with a lot of items for Carre: armchairs, writing and dining tables, some of which he later put into mass production.
Louis Carre lived in this house until his death in 1977. Now the building is open to the public — the only building of Alvar Aalto in France, which has become one of the most perfect buildings of the master, does not cease to delight visitors from all over the world with its warmth and thoughtfulness. www.maisonlouiscarre.frA fragment of the kitchen.
A staircase leads to the central hall. Armchair, designed by Alvar Aalto, Artek.
Photo
RICHARD POWERS
