Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Clos Genest is an architectural complex designed at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century by the architect Casimir Genest (1846-1918) in Valencia (Drôme). Intended to house his family, this project initially included four villas: the Cigales, Margot, Castelet and Les Violettes. Only the villas of the Cigales and Margot remain today, the other two having been destroyed to give way to modern buildings. The site, located on Rue des Moulins, near the Cité scolaire Camille-Vernet, reflects the architectural eclecticism of the period, mixing medieval, Renaissance and fantastic influences.

The Villa des Cigales, the first preserved building, is distinguished by its four pentus-roofed pavilions, decorated with grotesque sculptures and decorations inspired by the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The interior houses gypsum and glass mosaics, while one of the pavilions served as a workshop in Genest. The Margot villa, built in 1904 for the wedding of his daughter Marguerite, has an asymmetric brick facade, Renaissance bays and carved motifs (dragons, masks, ancient references). Its entrance is surmounted by a "Villa Margot" cartridge framed with cast heads and a Dauphiné shield.

Casimir Genest, an architect and radical city councillor from Valencia, marked the city with its social and urban achievements. A lover of art and close to artists, he incorporated in his works an eclectic style, mixing medieval symbols and Renaissance without precise meaning. Clos Genest, with the City of Officers, remains one of its few preserved heritages, classified as a historical monument in 1997. The villas, their garden and a remaining factory are protected, testifying to the creative audacity of their designer.

The history of the site is marked by transformations: the Villa des Violettes, which became a Saint Joseph clinic in the 1920s, disappeared after the Second World War, just like Castelet. Today, the villas of the Cigales and Margot, with their exuberant decorations (fantastic heads, mythological animals, Renaissance motifs), illustrate Genest's architectural heritage. Their inscription in 1997 highlights their heritage value in the valentine landscape.

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