The Côte d’Opale: Architecture of the 20s and 30s

Inspired by the limitless sky and sea, the name opal, a stone with changing colors, is perfectly suited to this heterogeneous landscape of high cliffs and dunes cut with estuaries, which extends from the Platier nature reserve to Oye north of Calais to the bay of Authie south of Berck. Since the 19^th century, the Côte d'Opale has had its fans. But while the Basque Coast, the Côte d’Émeraude or the Côte d’Argent have found an aesthetic unity through the creation of seaside towns, none of the utopian plans projected on this shore eaten away by sand and the milky expanse of the English Channel came to fruition. Led by Richard Klein, a collective of authors reveals to us abandoned dreams of grandeur, the poetry of singular architectures scattered across the cliffs, bays and moors: the Tymphonium of Wissant, the Villa Scarabée in Le Touquet, buildings in Louis Quételart, the expressionist church of Merlimont, the first house of the architect Ernö Goldfinger or the neoplasticist villa designed by the architect Paul Herbé and the painter Félix Del Marle.

23 x 28.5 cm

168 pages

150 black and white and color illustrations

ISBN: 978-2-9092-8337-1

Text in French only