In Poissy, above the Seine, a 1931 house on pilotis in a one-hectare meadow

History

In late 1928 Pierre and Eugénie Savoye decided to build a country house for weekends on the land they owned at Poissy: a 7-hectare meadow ringed with trees and looking out over the valley. Pierre Savoye, who had made his money in insurance, chose the site, close to Saint-Germain-en-Laye and its golf course. Eugénie Savoye chose the architect, Le Corbusier, whose Villa Church at Ville-d’Avray the couple knew. Her letter of commission set out the hot water, gas, central heating, layout of the rooms and floor finishes.

Le Corbusier worked with his cousin and partner Pierre Jeanneret. The first estimates struck the Savoyes as too high, and they gave up a second floor and a flat for the chauffeur. Building ran from 1929 to 1931. The reinforced-concrete house was set in the middle of the meadow on pilotis, with a roof garden, free plan, free facade and ribbon windows. On the ground floor the plan follows the curve of the drive, and the Savoyes' car determined the shape of the hall and the size of the porch; the garage takes three cars. At the park gate, a 45 m² gardener’s lodge housed a family of three.

Leaks through the rooflights and along the ramp, and a house that was hard to heat, meant the Savoyes came only in fine weather; they left for the provinces in May 1940. During the Occupation the German army requisitioned the villa as a lookout over the valley and the Poissy car factories, and the American army moved in at the Liberation. In 1947 the estate became a farm and the house a store.

In 1958 the town of Poissy took the land from the Savoyes by compulsory purchase to build a school. Demolition of the house was considered, and in the meantime it was used for youth activities. Architects set up a preservation committee, Le Corbusier appealed to André Malraux, minister for cultural affairs, and the town handed the villa to the State with one hectare of land. The Lycée Le Corbusier, built in 1968 to designs by the architect Jacques Chauliat, runs as a long curved block facing the Seine; with its sports grounds it takes up three sides of the former meadow.

Restoration began in 1963. The villa was listed as a historic monument by order of 16 December 1965, four months after Le Corbusier’s death. It belongs to the State and is run by the Centre des monuments nationaux. In July 2016, together with the gardener’s lodge, it was inscribed on the World Heritage List as one of the 17 sites in seven countries that make up The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier. UNESCO notes that the school and its grounds partly compromise the integrity of the site.

Updated 26 October 2026