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Origin and history

The house La Bluette, also known as Villa La Bluette or Villa de la Houle, is an iconic achievement of the architect Hector Guimard, built in 1899 in Hermanville-sur-Mer, Calvados. Sponsored by the Parisian lawyer Prosper Grivellé, it embodies the Art Nouveau style, rare in this region, with its wooden panels facades, curved lines and blue woodwork. The villa is part of a set of seaside residences built between Lion-sur-Mer and Hermanville-sur-Mer at the end of the 19th century.

In 1925, a garage with a bedroom was added to the property. The villa is remarkable for its dynamic volumes, its transparency effects created by the superimposition of the plans, and its Art Nouveau details, such as the wooden staircase or the chimney carved of plant motifs. A wave-shaped ceramic spear was originally adorning the roof, although later damaged. Today, the house is the only survivor of Guimard's first creative period in the region.

Listed and partially listed as historical monuments by order of 15 December 2005, the villa La Bluette includes in its protection the entire building, its fences, its gates and the ground of the plot, excluding the shed, the latter being simply inscribed. Its architecture, blending limestone, pebbles and wooden panels, as well as its interior elements like the monumental fireplace, make it a unique testimony of Art Nouveau in Normandy. The villa is located at 272 rue du Pré-de-l'Isle, on the dam of the Brèche, a popular place for secondary residences at the Belle Époque.

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