Villa Saint-James

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The building is located on the edge of the street. It opens to the rear onto a closed courtyard, on either side of which two bodies of buildings rise in right-angle return to the main building. The one on the left, with only a single storey of elevation, formerly served as lodging for the caretaker; today it forms an integral part of the ground-floor apartment. Balconies extend before the courtyard façades at each level, those on the second and third storeys are partially covered. A stone staircase, located after the entrance hall, provides access to the storeys. The windows on the staircase cage are decorated with stained glass with geometric patterns. A painted decoration on canvas, marouflé, ornaments the entrance hall, the vestibule and the staircase cage. The ceiling of the entrance hall is also covered with painted decoration. One of the apartments also retains ceilings decorated with marouflé painted canvases. The site was occupied, since 1869, by a shed built at the back of the plot. In 1887, a main dwelling, occupied by a car rental proprietor, was added to it. The whole was demolished in 1891 for the construction of a building carried out by the Paul Bonna company. This building was completed in 1893. At the request of Eugène Gavard, a marble plaque bearing the inscription Villa Saint-James was affixed to the building in 1894. In 1898, an ornate canopy designed by architect Delimoges was added to the façade. According to the building permit it was covered in Saint-Gobain glass. In 1930, Gabrielle Chiron widow of Michel Mermoz, hotelkeeper, incorporated the building into the limited company of the Mercedes and Saint-James Hotels. She withdrew it from this company in 1933 to subdivide it into five lots. These lots were sold in 1935. Dr Emile Paul then installed his medical practice there. In 1968, the refurbishment of the façades resulted in the disappearance of the ceramic tiles on the main street façade. In 1982, the stone steps of the staircase ascent were partially cut back for the installation of a lift. In 1997, the canopy, damaged by a lorry, was replaced by a new one inspired by the original model. In 1999, the construction of a new building, on the site of the neighbouring villa, resulted in the blocking of the majority of the openings on the west gable. (Text extracted from the notice written by the service of the General Inventory of Heritage during the inventory of Aix-les-Bains.) A testimony to the decorations of modest boarding houses in the spa town, the decorations of the Villa Saint-James are preserved in the common areas and in an apartment of the building called "Villa Saint-James". The application for protection under the title of historic monuments originates from one of the co-owners and concerns both the common paintings of the building and the paintings in one of the apartments on the first storey.

Description

The façade is rhythmed by three ornate balconies in wrought iron, each emphasizing one of the three storeys. Three mansard windows form the openings on the roof. The building opens to the rear onto a closed courtyard, on either side of which two bodies of buildings rise in right-angle return to the main building. The principal interest of the edifice lies in its interior decoration, of great quality, and which is present in the entrance hall, the vestibule, the staircase cage and the apartment on the first storey. These are essentially floral decorations or more broadly vegetative ones, surrounded or bordered by frames, volutes, clasps and fillets. They strike by the fineness of their execution, the balance of their composition and their integration in the spaces they ornament, and the originality of their application on marouflé canvases. In the entrance hall, the floral decoration is particularly abundant, of very great fineness, with a technique mixing oil, gouache and watercolour, different from that of the frame (principally in oil). Above the wooden skirting boards, the surface of the walls on the right and left is elegantly rhythmed in five trompe-l'œil panels, of ocre-pink colour, on a pastel green background, these panels being framed with rocaille motifs imitating gilding, with varied motifs: volutes, clasps... The central panel is narrower and comprises large baskets from which flowers burst forth. On the ceiling, the rocaille decoration of the frame is more developed, with a reticulated motif on the extremities. The lack of sources, preparatory drawings in particular, does not however allow details to be given on their inspiration nor above all on their executor(s). The decorations of the staircase cage extend from the ground floor to the top of the stone staircase on the third storey. Much simpler than those of the entrance, nevertheless harmonious, they develop on one hand above skirting boards covered with false marble painting, and on the other hand at the top of the wall along the ceiling. They constitute in particular a long frieze with rhythmed decorations made up of branches, leaves and fruits of plane trees, on marouflé canvas. One of the apartments, on the first storey, also retains in two rooms (dining room and bedroom) ceilings decorated with marouflé painted canvases, of the same style and technique as in the entrance hall. Here, the angles and sides of the ceilings are abundantly decorated with rocaille motifs in the form of clasps and volutes, while garlands of flowers (wisteria, nasturtiums etc.) stream with the slender grace of climbing plants from one frame motif to another. Furthermore, the building has retained a number of interesting heritage elements (doors, door frames, stained glass in the staircase cage and in the model apartment).