Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

La Casamaures, located in Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux en Isère, is a neo-Mauresque villa built in the 3rd quarter of the 19th century by Joseph Jullien dit Cochard. Inspired by orientalism in vogue, this grenoblois bourgeois, ruined by his passion, erects this palace in moulded cement, a revolutionary technique nicknamed "grey gold". The villa, classified as a historical monument in 1986, symbolizes local industrial innovation (Vicat Cementery) and architectural exoticism.

The building, decorated with 52 blue columns and mucharabiehs, rises on four levels with waterfall terraces. Originally, it was surrounded by an exotic park of 6,500 m2, now reduced to 1,578 m2, where remains a bicentennial magnolia labeled "Remarkable Tree". The villa also includes freemason symbols and Ottoman decorations, such as a winter garden inspired by the yalıs of the Bosphorus.

Abandoned after Cochard's death in 1886, the Casamaures changed hands 13 times and suffered degradation (wars, squats, industrial transformations). Saved in 1981 by artist Christiane Guichard, it has been restored for 40 years. Its quick cement facades, its zinc roof with 100 blue acroteries, and its polychrome stained glass windows have won several heritage awards (2004, 2009, 2014).

The site is home to three associations: Casamaures yesterday and today (cultural visits), the Atelier Tournesol (solar screens), and Le Tilleul de Sully. The gardens, partially reconstituted, combine nature and contemporary art, with a "cosmopolitan" path inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The villa, accessible by the Grenobles tramway (line E), remains a unique testimony of the architectural eclecticism and industrial history of the Isère.

Classified for its orientalist style and its pioneering constructive process, the Casamaures is also protected for its historic hydraulic system (bassins, fountains) and its interior decorations (panoramic wallpapers, Turkish fireplaces). Recent restorations have made it possible to find its original colours: artificial overseas blue (guimet pigment) and yellow ochre, as well as Persian floral motifs in the stairs.

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