Villa Rhodonia à Bron dans le Rhône

Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Rhodania villa, located in Bron in the Lyon metropolis, is an iconic early 20th-century building, rebuilt between 1919 and 1920 by Charles Antonin Hostein, architect who collaborated with Tony Garnier. It replaces a first house erected by Joseph Mons, a merchant in the 19th century. Its architectural style is inspired by the Chicago schools and the prairie movement, focusing on integration into a natural environment with large bays, roofs with a steep overflow and adaptation to the sloped terrain. The villa, originally named Villa Hostein, is part of the development of Parilly Park by the Rhône Department.

Acquired in 1934 by the Prefect Bollaert on behalf of the Department, the villa became a resting place for the Prefects of the Rhône. During World War II, it housed Prefect Bollaert after refusing to take an oath to Marshal Pétain, as well as the widow of Prefect Bonnefoy, who had died on deportation. The villa, with 22 rooms on five levels, includes outbuildings such as a tennis court, garden, orchard and greenhouse, although some elements (rose grove, aviary) have now disappeared. Its interior preserves traces of its prefectural use, such as the prefect's office on the first floor or an old chapel transformed into a playroom.

Architecturally, the Rhodania villa is distinguished by its free construction, perhaps carried out without a dedicated architect but with the expertise of an engineer. Its spatial organization reflects a bourgeois way of life of the early twentieth century, combining domestic economy and leisure (library-belvedere, gardens). Ranked a historic monument in 2020, it embodies an unknown heritage but important for the history of the Rhône department, both in its style and in its role in the prefectural and local memory.

Today, the Rhodania villa, although healthy in its structure, requires repairs (masonry, pond) and remains little known to the public. His future was even questioned by the local government, despite his heritage interest and his unique view of the Lyon agglomeration. Its name, Rhodonia, underscores its anchor in the history of the Rhône, while its architecture bears witness to an early modernity, mixing functionality and landscape aesthetics.

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