Chronology and Cultural History

In 1934, a demonstration by the far-right in Place de la Concorde caused riots. The Popular Front, a left-wing party, is formed after a demonstration on July 14, 1935, on Bastille Day. The Popular Front was formed to create an alliance of centrist and leftist political parties in France that were opposed to the onset of fascism. The Popular Front wins the general election in May of 1936. Their victory was marked by spontaneous street celebrations and demonstrations. 

Both before and after the war, the Maison de Verre was an important cultural and political meeting place. La Maison de Verre was a place where artists, poets, and travelers got together for dinners and receptions. The house's guests included Louis Jouvet, Max Ernst, Pierre Levy, and Jeanne Bucher. Annie Dalsace's love for art was life-long; she bought paintings by Picasso and Braque, Lipchitz sculpted a bust of Annie, Jean Lurcat painted her portrait, and the house e hoed with concerts of chamber music. 

In 1939, World War II begins. During the occupation of France by Germany, the house was closed and emptied of all its furniture which was hidden and kept safe. The Germans wanted to requisition the Maison de Verre but they soon realized that they could neither heat nor light it. After the Liberation in 1944, the Dalsaces returned to Paris and lived in the maids’ rooms above the Maison de Verre while their house was being restored after four years of neglect. The Dalsaces were politically active, and in the 1950s the house was the setting for the foundation of the Association of Doctors Against War and Fascism. It also housed secret peace talks between the French and the Vietnamese, as well as meetings in support of peace in Algeria. The house was open to everyone. La Maison de Verre was a meeting place where avant-garde ideas, artistic concepts and the most beautiful utopian ideals were being expressed; it was open for everyone and everything, for every form of expression. It was a place of friendship.

Narrative: The house, it’s owners and cultural history

An alternative name for Maison de Verre (French for House of Glass) is Maison Dalsace which is named after the patron of the house, Dr. Jean Dalsace. Dr. Dalsace was a Parisian doctor and La Maison de Verre served as a clinic, home, and salon of the leftist intelligentsia in Paris. 

Pre-Maison de Verre

In 1918, Jean and Annie Dalsace settled at 195 Boulevard Saint-Germain and asked Pierre Chareau to design their house for them and their future children. The property was gifted to Annie Dalsace on her nuptial. The location of their new home was on 31 Rue St-Guillaume in the Tour Eiffel District of Paris.

 

The house was inserted into a traditional Parisian home as opposed to demolishing and rebuilding because an elderly woman refused to move off of her apartment on the top floor and was protected by Parisian tenant laws. The architect had to remove the lower stories and leave the top floor for the tenant as well as an entrance on the right side. 

From outside, La Maison de Verre may look small but when one gets to the foot of the main staircase, this is the moment when the real dimensions of the space become apparent to the visitor. One is only aware of this inside. Light invades the room, its presence absolute. The great room is like a beating heart, a modern cathedral full of white dizzying light.

Annie Dalsace in her boudoir

The arrangement of spaces in the house was influenced by both owners, but there is very strong influence from Madame Dalsace that can be seen. Annie was among the first to be excited and embrace modernism. It was Annie’s obstinacy that had driven her to knock down an 18th century town house without a second thought and allow La Maison de Verre to be built in its place. 

The spaces in the house seem to be divided into different sections according to the way they were used and who used them. The first floor served as a clinic for Dr. Dalsace, it was his domain where he reigned alone. The first floor can be analyzed as the “bachelor” or male part of the house, above all because it is in fact Dr. Dalsace’s sacred domain and necessarily consecrated to celibacy. The third floor, which is that of the family bedrooms, can be taken as the feminine area. The second floor can be considered as something in-between, it was one part public and social, and another part private and intimate. The eastern part of the second floor contains the privacy of the boudoir, the domestic space of the kitchen and the sociability of the dining area and can therefore conceptually be considered as the domain of Annie Dalsace. The western section combines the privacy of the study and the public status of the drawing room and as such is under the conceptual sign of a bachelor.

“The client shares responsibilities with the architect.”

The boudoir (the bride) is linked by a detachable “rising” staircase to the main bedroom above, while the study (the bachelor) is linked by a fixed “descending” staircase, to the gynaecologist’s consulting room below. The bathroom is divided into feminine and masculine with bathtub on the feminine side and the shower on the masculine. There are times when the entire work seems to be a reflection of the personality of Annie Dalsace. Subtly the house seems to be more dedicated to the “bride”.