Docomomo N°39 September2008 T E C H N I C A L ISSUES OF RESTORATION Le Corbusier’s La Roche- J eanneret Houses TIZIANO AGLIERI RINELLA Recent studies, accomplished in 2005, resulted in the implementation of a “restoration dossier” 1 on Le Corbusier’s La Roche-Jeanneret houses in Paris (1923–25). The dossier includes a detailed survey of the existing situation, the building’s technical data and a documented chronology of all restoration, maintenance and transformation work carried out on it.
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monolithic, continuous surface likethe original. Thus, the flooring wasput in place in different pieces,attached with thin joints. A piece of the original flooring, conserved inthe archives of the Foundation, istrustworthy evidence of the old
color. Even the fitment under theramp was restored in that period,under the supervision of its originaldesigner Charlotte Perriand, whowas, at that time, a member of theLe Corbusier Foundation.The evidence of the restoration workis on the fitment’s top, covered withthe same material used for thegallery floor.
Regarding the window frames, fromthe chronology of the works carriedout in the “restoration dossier” weare able to discern which windowsare still original and which oneswere modified or replaced overtime. An accurate survey of eachtype of window was accomplished,and the different kinds of restorationwork carried out were identified.10
One could assert that, for the LaRoche-Jeanneret houses, there neverwas an overall restoration work onthe totality of the frames, but just
many single works for groups ortypes of windows. Generally,wooden parts were more frequentlythe object of restoration/replacement,because of their fragility. As anexample, in the square windows onthe second floor of the front façade,all the wooden parts were replacedby Jean-Louis Veret in 1981.11
The steel parts of the frames werejust restored, but not replaced. Inthat time, however, those soft steelframes, typical of the early modernarchitecture, were commonly inproduction in France. Consequently,if required, it was possible toreplace some broken parts with newones.12 One of the original woodenparts of the frames was found in thecellar of the Foundation, conservedin the underground archives.The frame was too badly damagedto make a survey with commonmeasurement instruments, thereforesome clay moulds were used to
obtain a profile that allowedredrawing it.The only completely original squarewindow was found in a corner of
the building between the gallerywing and the entrance of La Rochehouse. Its position, protected frombad weather, helped to preserve it
and keep its originality. Amongthe restoration work carried out inthe other types of windows, one cantake as an example the ribbon
outcome of an additional series of assays to be implemented on theLa Roche house.
T H E F A Ç A D E S
Regarding the façades, in 1970Gimonet had to deal with theproblem of choosing the right colortonality. In that time,14 the façadeswere very dirty and ruined, so itwas very difficult to understand
which coat was the original color,as the exterior coat was not theoriginal. The testimonies gavedifferent versions. After a longinquiry, he decided to apply a coatof Polistrat, a synthetic paint made
like a thin film attached to the wall.The color of this coat was coldwhite, and its surface perfectlysmooth, so, according to thecommon opinion, respectful of theaesthetics of purism. Unfortunatelythis Polistrat coat made the wallunable to transpire, and this causedserious and continuous damage tothe interior polychromies, so thatthe Foundation was forced to
repaint the interiors very often.This synthetic coat was completelyremoved only in 2001.15
Lotti Raaf asserted, in a letter of 1970,16 that the original mortarwas mixed with stone powder, and
Fig. 6. Le Corbusier, La Roche house , details of window frames
Fig. 5. Le Corbusier, details of window sills and frames
window of the La Roche diningroom. In that frame, the woodenbase was replaced, as well as thethin wooden frame used to blockthe glass to the main frame of thewindow. The other wooden andsteel parts, according to thesources, should be original, exceptfor the window locks that werereplaced with replicas in 2000.13
T H E P O L Y C H R O M I E SRegarding the interior polychromy,very few works are actuallydocumented. Even if many tracesof repainting work were found inthe archives, it is impossible tounderstand exactly on whichsurface the work have been done.In order to achieve more detailedinformation on the original state of the polychromy in 1925, takinginto account even the firstmodifications carried out byLe Corbusier in the gallery in 1928and 1936, it is necessary toexamine the results of thestratigraphic assays. One shouldimmediately specify, nevertheless,that these assays are currently inprogress, and further investigationsand laboratory verifications arenecessary. The first series of assays,indeed, has given just afragmentary and incomplete chart,therefore considered so far not fully
reliable by the Le CorbusierFoundation. Before officiallyconfirming the results, theFoundation is waiting for the
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it appeared as a raw coating, witha warm color, completely differentfrom the cold and smooth white thatexists today. This may be confirmedby the current stratigraphic assays,17
that are attempting to discover, withmany difficulties, some residualtraces of the original mortar(removing the Polistrat layer hadremoved all the layers underneath).
I S S U E S O F R E S T O R A T I O N
A restoration project shouldconfront several unsolved problemsof the La Roche house’s currentstate. First of all, it is indispensableto look at the principles thatLe Corbusier put in his project. Todayindeed, after many modificationshave been carried out, some of these principles currently appeardeprived of their original sense andforgotten. As Le Corbusier affirms inthe Œuvre Complète , the mainprinciple applied in the design of
the La Roche house was thearchitectural ‘promenade,’ mostlycoincident with the display path of the art collection. The hanging of
art and the sculpture arrangementof 1926, indeed, were alsoprepared by Le Corbusier, followingspecific programmatic rules andtaking care of a thoughtful balancebetween works of art andarchitectural spaces. Thus, arestoration project should take intoconsideration the reinstatement of the principle of the promenade,restoring its last episode, the LaRoche’s bedroom, in its originalshape. An unsettled issue,unfortunately, will be the absence of the La Roche art collection (todayowned by the Kunstsammlung of Basel), which significantlyinfluenced the design of the architectural spaces.A further open problem is, in thiscontext, the possible reinstatementof the original furniture. If someoriginal pieces could be found inthe antique trade market of theearly twentieth century, a remake of
some particular furniture custom-designed by Le Corbusier may bepossible from the original detaildrawings.
Another issue concerns the interiorpolychromies. For their restoration,one shouldn’t simply restore just theoldest paint layer found in theassays, but also to implement acorrect interpretation of the rulesused by Le Corbusier in their
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choice. Indeed, as Le Corbusierhimself affirmed18 regarding theLa Roche house, at the beginninghe often proceeded in manychanges of the interior colors,testing empirically the color effecton the wall’s surface. A further
related problem to confront, today,is the choice of the right kind of paint. The original paint used in1925 was a glue and oil paint thatallowed a matte and warm coloreffect to be obtained, but wasextremely fragile. Its use today isinappropriate; because of theintense flow of visitors of theLa Roche house, it would lead tofrequent repainting work. Therefore,it will be necessary to carefullydefine the choices, in a thoroughdecision-making process that willinvolve, besides the Le CorbusierFoundation, experts and officials of the French Ministry of Culture.A particularly difficult task isthe negotiation with the relevantauthorities that could allow, asin the past, the attainment of
a derogation from the regulationissues preventing the public to haveaccess to the roof terrace. Thebalustrade height of the terrace,indeed, is not adequate accordingto the current French law.Moreover, a part of the terrace,
over the hall and the gallery roof,is completely without handrails anddefinitely will never be open tothe public. An appropriate solutionshould be agreed to by thearchitect, taking into considerationthe different instances.
In conclusion, as seen, the rangeof matters to confront with therestoration project is quite wide.The status of institutional protectionof the La Roche-Jeanneret house
engages in its safeguard a largenumber of players that will controleach stage of the restoration,sharing decisional responsibility.Thus, some good premises arearising to restore this earlymasterpiece of Le Corbusier tonew life.
TIZIANO AGLIERI RINELLA,
architect, has carried out a PhD thesison “Restoration of Modern Architecture:La Roche-Jeanneret House, a Case Study of Le Corbusier.” His work is currently under publication in Italy: Le CaseLa Roche-Jeanneret di Le Corbusier –Riflessioni per un Progetto di Restauro(Rome: Officina Edizioni, 2008)[email protected]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AA. VV. The Le Corbusier Archive . New York and London: Garland, 1982–4. AGLIERI RINELLA , TIZIANO. Le Case La Roche-Jeanneret di Le Corbusier – Riflessioni per un Progetto di Restaur o.Rome: Officina Edizioni, 2008.BENTON, TIM. “La Rocca” in Katarina Schmidand Hartwig Fischer (eds.), Ein Hausfür den Kubismus, Die Sammlung Raoul La Roche. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje, 1998.BENTON, TIM. Les Villas de Le Corbusier 1920–193 9 . Paris: Sers, 1987. Englishedition: Villas of Le Corbusier 1920–193 0 . Yale: Yale University Press, 1990.GIMONET, CHRISTIAN. “Restoration of Buildingsof Le Corbusier,” in Docomomo Conference Proceeding s (1990), 276.LE CORBUSIER. Œuvre Complète 1910–192 9 , vol. 1. Basel: Birkhauser, 1929.REICHLIN, BRUNO. Le Corbusier vs De Stijl in “De Stijl et l’Architecture en France,”exhibition catalogue directed by Yve-AlainBois and Bruno Reichlin. Liège, Brussels:
Mardaga, 1985.RUEGG, ARTHUR. Polychromie Architecturale .Basel: Birkhauser, 1998.SBRIGLIO, JACQUES. Le Corbusier. Les VillasLa Roche-Jeanneret . Basel, Boston, Berlin:FLC/Birkhauser, 1997. VON MOOS, STANISLAUS. Album La Roche – Le Corbusier . Milan: Electa, 1996.
NOTES
1 Annexes of Vincenzo Tiziano AglieriRinella, PhD thesis “Il Restauro del Moderno:la Villa La Roche-Jeanneret diLe Corbusier,” tutors: Prof. Bruno Reichlin
(IAUG, University of Geneva) and Prof.Pasquale Culotta; Dottorato in Progettazione Architettonica, Dipartimento di Storiae Progetto nell’Architettura dell’Universitàdi Palermo, XVI ciclo, 2001–4.2 The so-called “archives vivantes,”of the FLC, not recorded yet. An index of these documents, implemented by the author, is included in the annexes hisPhD tesi. Cf. Aglieri Rinella, Il Restauro del Moderno .3 Christian Gimonet, “Restoration of Buildings of Le Corbusier,” in Docomomo Conference Proceedings (1992): 276.See also FLC H 1-2-411.4 FLC 15298; confirmed by the interview
of Christian Gimonet, 22 May 2003.5 Photo Boissonnas, 1926. Dossier La Roche, FLC.6 In the Le Corbusier Foundation archives,no documents concerning this modification
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Fig. 10. Le Corbusier, La Roche-Jeanneret houses, front façade, Paris, built 1923–5
have been found. By the interviews, oneknow that the wall had to be still intact on 1973 (interview of Christian Gimonet),and the door was probably open between1975 and 1976, on the occasion of the inauguration of the microfilm room(interview of Evelyne Trehín, past director of the FLC).7 Le Corbusier, Œuvre Complète 1910–29 , vol. 1 (Basel: Birkhäuser, 1929), 60.8 Cost estimate of SIS company, 5December 1986, and related invoice of 30March 1987, in current unrecorded archivesof the FLC: file “Travaux Divers 1979–93,”
dossier: “Galerie La Roche: Revêtement du Sol 1986.”9 Recently found by Gatier’s staff.10 Aglieri Rinella, Il Restauro del Moderno ,annexes.11 Current unrecorded archives of the FLC: file “Travaux Divers 1979–93,”dossier “Travaux de Réfection Huisserieset Peinture Villas La Roche Jeanneret 1979–81:” cost estimate (approved by the FLC) of Guguin, Touzot & C, 8December 1980, replacement of frames“à l’identique des menuiseries existantes”(similar to the original ones); confirmedby the interview of Jean-Louis Veret (December 2003).
12 Interview of Jean-Louis Veret (December 2003).13 In 2000 many of the window locks were broken, and it was impossible to findthe same kind on the market, so an original
brass lock was taken to a workshop to makea mould so as to reproduce some new ones.Current unrecorded archivesof the FLC: file “Ravalement VillasLa Roche-Jeanneret,” dossier “Entreprises1999–2002,” sub-dossier: “Serrurerie EtsPetit 2000.”14 Gimonet, Restoration of Buildingsof Le Corbusier .15 Current unrecorded archives of the FLCfile “Ravalement Villas La Roche-Jeanneret.”16 “Le Corbusier made a mortar of cement mixed with powder of stone, which madethe surface slightly wrinkled and with
a sand-yellowish color of a very beautifuleffect, warmer than this cold and sterile white.” Letter of Lotti Raaf to the LeCorbusier Foundation, 22 December 1970,FLC.17 Interview of Ariel Bertrand (July 2007).18 Arthur Ruegg, Le Corbusier Polychromie Architecturale (Basel: Birkhauser, 1998).
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