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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The isbas de la villa de Beauséjour form a unique architectural ensemble composed of four pavilions located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. These buildings, which were listed as historical monuments in 1992, are the remains of the Russian pavilion of the Universal Exhibition of 1867. One of them, a dacha, was built in St Petersburg by Russian carpenters, disassembled and rebuilt in Paris for the exhibition before being resettled in 1872 in the villa of Beauséjour. The other three pavilions, made of brick and stone coated with wood, also come from the buildings of the Exhibition, reused by the architect Alphonse Lasnier, then owner of the premises.

The whole was acquired in 1881 by the widow of Isaac Pereire, a banker and influential businessman of the Second Empire. The resale of these pavilions after the Universal Exhibition is explained by their logistical cost: the exhibiting nations preferred to surrender them rather than repatriate them, these constructions being considered banal in their countries of origin. Today, only the facades and roofs of these isbas (cadastre CM 2, 4, 7) are protected, testifying to an unknown Franco-Russian heritage.

The architect Paul Benard is mentioned as a masterpiece in official sources, although his exact role in the transformation or preservation of pavilions remains unclear. The villa of Beauséjour, with its isbas, thus illustrates the 19th century's enthusiasm for exotic architectures and creative re-employments resulting from international exhibitions. These buildings, located at 3ter and 6 villa Beauséjour and 11bis boulevard Beauséjour, remain a rare example of hybrid heritage, at the crossroads of Slavic and Parisian influences.

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