Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Badin House, located in Sceaux in the Hauts-de-Seine, was built in 1954 by architect Paul Nelson for the banker Badin. This project is part of the modern architectural current, taking up the principle of the suspended house that Nelson had theorized before the Second World War. The stone side walls support metal portals, allowing to suspend the upper floor and free the interior spaces from any unnecessary structural support. This technical innovation, combined with a bold aesthetic, makes this villa a landmark in post-war architecture in France.

Fernand Léger, an iconic painter of the 20th century, contributed to the decoration of the house by intervening on the colouring of the facade claustras. This dialogue between architecture and visual art reflects the close links between Paul Nelson, the banker Badin and their circle of friends, including Georges Braque. The house, classified as a Historical Monument in 2014 with its garden, thus embodies a synthesis between technical innovation, artistic collaboration and cultural heritage.

The building is representative of the architectural experiments of the 1950s, when architects sought to break with traditional cannons to explore new forms of habitat. The Badin House, with its liberated volumes and landscape integration, illustrates this quest for modernity. Its inscription in the inventory of Historical Monuments underlines its importance in the history of French architecture of the twentieth century, while preserving a heritage linked to major figures of art and finance of the time.

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