Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Maison La Roche, located at the 10 square of the Doctor-Blanche in Paris, was built between 1923 and 1925 by Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret. Sponsored by Swiss collector Raoul Albert La Roche, it was to house its rich collection of cubist and purist works (Picasso, Braque, Léger). This project marked the first concrete application of the five points for a new architecture, while developing the concept of an architectural walk, where spaces are discovered by movement.

The house, combined with the nearby Jeanneret House, was designed to separate the functions: the gallery (on stilts) and the private spaces. Its austere aesthetic, desired by La Roche despite its fortune, highlights volumes, surfaces and light. Raw materials and sober colours interact with exposed paintings. In 1928, modifications (made with Charlotte Perriand) transformed the gallery, adding glass, metal and marble elements.

Ranked a historic monument in 1996, the Maison La Roche has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016, alongside 16 other works by Le Corbusier. Its restoration (completed in 2009) restored the original polychromy, in harmony with the artist-architect's paintings. Today, it houses the Le Corbusier Foundation, dedicated to preserving its heritage.

The furniture, designed or selected by Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, combines unique pieces (such as La Roche tables in wood and nickel) and industrial objects (Thonet chairs). The house also embodies a reflection on the modern art of living, with minimalist spaces such as the purist room, reduced to essential, or the garden roof common to both villas.

The UNESCO application, initially rejected in 2009 and 2011 for technical reasons, ended in 2016 after the inclusion of key sites such as Chandigarh (India). This ranking underscores the global influence of Le Corbusier, whose Maison La Roche remains an architectural and artistic manifesto.

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