EN:
Context and genesis of the project
Paul Cavrois (1890-1965) was a textile industrialist from northern France who owned modern factories for spinning, weaving and dyeing cotton and wool. In the early 1920s he bought a site located on the hill of Beaumont, in Croix, not far from his factories situated in Roubaix, in order to build a mansion able to receive his family of 7 children and the servants.
Originally the architect and town-planner Jacques Greber was charged with the project, who suggested a house in the regionalist style, in vogue at that period. Finally Paul Cavrois turned to Robert Mallet-Stevens after he met him in 1925 at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris.The owners gave the architect free rein on the project, and, for the first time in his career, Mallet-Stevens was responsible for the entire work, down to the last details. The villa is conceived by the architect as a total artwork and it represents the outcome of his technical and aesthetic reflections. The villa was inaugurated on 5 July 1932, for the wedding of Geneviève Cavrois, the eldest daughter of the couple Cavrois, after 3 years of work.
At the completion of the work the villa was astonishing for its bravery and modernity, and its style was a total break from that of other neighbouring houses in the suburb of Croix, even those of the same era. Clear guidelines governed the design of the building, which was commissioned in 1929, included: "air, light, work, sports, hygiene, comfort and efficiency".
Decline and acquisition by the state
One room was left untouched during the renovation to show the extent of the damage.
During the second world war the Cavrois family left the North region to take refuge in their manor in Normandy. The villa was occupied by German troops who turned it into a barracks able to receive 200 soldiers. The Cavrois family returned to their house after the war, when, in 1947, Paul Cavrois asked Pierre Barbe to modify the villa in order to create two apartments to house the families of their sons Paul and Francis. In this way two independent habitations were created in the west wing of the building while Paul and Lucie continued to live in the east section of the villa.
The Cavrois resided in the villa until the death of Lucie Cavrois in 1985: in the same year the sons sold the furniture of the villa in an auction. In 1987 the villa was sold to a real estate company who wanted to demolish it and divide the land into plots. However, the villa was abandoned and quickly looted, ransacked and occupied by squatters. In 1990, the property and grounds were classified as an historic monument by decree of the Conseil d'État. That same year saw the birth of an association to protect and preserve the house. Since its inception the association has lobbied the state authorities concerning the fate of the villa. The French State, through its Ministry of Culture, purchased the building in 2001, and, in 2004, restoration work commenced on the exterior and the reinstatement of the internal features.
On December 18, 2008, the Ministry of Culture entrusted villa Cavrois to Centre des Monuments Nationaux (CMN), with the purpose of restoring it and opening it to the public. CMN conducted the restoration of the interior spaces and decor (floors, wall coverings, paintwork, furniture), in order to recreate, as closely as possible, the condition of the building in the 1930s. One room on the upper floor was intentionally left untouched to show the extent of the damage that was done in the decades before. CMN has also restored the gardens (replantation of trees, restoration of the water features and the original alleys) and the illumination of the park and the villa. The villa opened to the public on 13 June 2015.
Type: Private house
Architectural style: International style
Construction started: 1929
Completed: 1932
Renovated: 2015
Client: Paul Cavrois
Architect(s): Robert Mallet-Stevens
Website: www.villa-cavrois.fr/en
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