Biarritz, Villas and Gardens 1900-1930: The Basque Coast of the 1930s

In 1852, when the imperial family made Biarritz their vacation spot, extravagant architectural follies appeared. A few years later, on these immense dismantled properties, banks and financiers created remarkable subdivisions: the Imperial Domain in 1880, then the Winter Park in 1922. Intense real estate activity developed, architects flocked, following the example of Henri Sauvage and Charles Sarazin whose villas Océana and Natacha will be the first testimonies of rationalist modernism. In this mecca of the Roaring Twenties, society was just as mixed as the architecture. Edward VII and Alphonse XIII rubbed shoulders with Beistegui, Picasso, Chaplin, Van Dongen, Valéry, Paul Poiret and Jeanne Lanvin. In praise of the unexpected and of fantasy, this work takes us into a world worthy of the Universal Exhibitions, where Scottish castles, oriental palaces and modest 1925 houses, and Art Nouveau, Art Deco, neo-Basque, neo-Spanish, Moorish and English gardens coexist... a cosmopolitan and carefree world condemned by the looming crisis of 1932.

23 x 28.5 cm

160 pages

135 black and white and color illustrations

ISBN: 978-2-9092-8306-7

Text in French only