House Bel-Air

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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Bel-Air House, sometimes called Bel-Air Castle, is an iconic residence on the island of Reunion, located at 23 Kervéguen Street, in the municipality of Tampon. Built around 1908 in a Creole style marked by neo-classical influences, it was built for industrialist Robert Le Coat de Kervéguen. Destined to house her mistress, Mademoiselle Deverne, actress at the Comédie-Française, this two-storey wooden residence dominates a vast garden, now protected under the title of Historic Monuments since 13 September 1984.

The property illustrates La Réunion's hybrid architecture, where European codes blend with local traditions, with a late persistence of neo-classicism. In the 1930s, it served as a residence for the director of a Franco-Mauritian sugar cane plantation company, reflecting the link between these homes and the island's sugar economy. The house also gained a cinematic reputation in 1968, as the location of François Truffaut's La Sirène du Mississippi.

Today, Bel-Air House houses the Seychelles Honorary Consulate in La Réunion. Its inclusion in the additional inventory of Historic Monuments covers facades, roofs and the garden (cadastre CK 361, 476), highlighting its heritage value. The building thus bears witness to the social and economic history of La Réunion, between colonial heritage, worldly life and local adaptations of architectural styles.

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