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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The villa Jurietti is a mansion built in Vichy between 1895 and 1897 in a neo-Renaissance style, on the plans of the Lyon architect Henri Despierre. Sponsored by Jacques Jurietti, a French-born Swiss businessman, it is distinguished by its imposing size (630 m2) and its strategic location at the bottom of Hubert-Colombiar Street, close to the future Petit Casino. Its facades in yellow brick and Vilenay stone, adorned with balconies, carved frontons and an overcrowded corner pavilion, reflect the architectural eclecticism of the period. Inside, the entrance hall adopts a pumpkin style with panelling and marouflage canvases, while the painted ceilings, partly signed by the Lyonnais Louis Bardey, combine mythological scenes and plant motifs.

Jacques Jurietti, founder of the International Circle — one of the largest gambling establishments in Vichy during the Belle Époque — built this villa on three contiguous lots purchased in 1895. His son-in-law, Hubert Colombier (lawyer and banker), had previously loted Hubert-Colombiar Street (then called Mephisto Street), where the villa became the centrepiece. Occupied in 1901 by Jurietti, his wife and two servants, it was requisitioned in 1940 by the Vichy regime to house the Secret Societies Service, a political police charged with tracking freemasonry. Partially classified as historic monuments in 1988, the villa retains protected elements: facades, roof, entrance hall, stairwell with its bronze chandelier, as well as the painted ceilings and fireplaces of the apartments.

The eclectic interior decoration of the villa illustrates the fascist of the thermal bourgeoisie. The ground floor, originally dedicated to reception rooms, has a dining room with a cabinet cabinet ceiling and a carved fireplace, while the floor reserved private spaces for the Jurietti. The windows of the dining room on the first floor, signed by artisan J. Magnin, represent herons and flowers, completing an ensemble of ancient influences and Art Nouveau. After serving as a set for the television film My father was right (1996) by Roger Vadim, the villa was highlighted in the show Roots and Wings (2016). In 2016, part of his furniture was dispersed at auction, marking the end of an era for this witness of the vichyssois golden age.

The villa Jurietti is part of the urban history of Vichy, linked to the thermal boom and social transformations of the late 19th century. His architect, Henri Despierre, also collaborated in the construction of the International Circle, a symbol of the resort's elitist leisure activities. Hubert-Colombiar Street, created by Jurietti's son-in-law, concentrated rental villas for an easy clientele, reflecting the city's real estate speculation and cosmopolitanism. The 1940 requisition also recalls Vichy's ambiguous role during the occupation, where architectural heritage was diverted for political purposes. Today, the villa remains a remarkable example of stylistic eclecticism and the artisanal know-how of the Belle Époque, despite the partial loss of its original furniture.

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