Maison Louis Carré, Modernist residence and classified historical monument in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, France.
Maison Louis Carré is a white-painted brick house on a hill in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, built 1957–1960 by Alvar and Elissa Aalto. Its rectilinear volumes have flat roofs, a two-storey main mass whose projecting upper floor rests on thin columns above a shaded loggia, tall wooden-framed windows and a lower wing with a corner window and roof terrace. The roof is Angers slate with copper gutters ending in spouts that pour into circular basins.
Louis Carré, an art dealer and collector, bought four hectares on a hill near Jean Monnet's house in 1956 and commissioned Alvar Aalto, preferring him to Le Corbusier. Elissa Aalto worked on the design and was the on-site architect; construction ran from 1957 and the Carrés moved in in June 1959. The villa was classified as a historical monument on 5 July 1996 and acquired in 2006 by the Alvar Aalto Association in France, which opened it to the public in 2007.
Louis Carré asked for a slate roof like his native Brittany, and the Aaltos designed everything inside, down to the doorknobs; the Carrés brought no furniture of their own. The house and its gardens have since served as a film and music-video set, including Alexandre Astier's David et Madame Hansen (2012) and Jain's Come (2015).
The house stands on a hill at the edge of the Rambouillet forest, reached from Bazoches-sur-Guyonne; the garden has lost its original open views over the Île-de-France countryside. Visits are by guided tour only, and the interior is shown with its original Aalto furniture in place.
Louis Carré's only design constraint was a sloping roof, which Aalto made follow the hill's downward slope. The house is the sole remaining Aalto building in France, and its interiors were filmed for Jain's 2015 video "Come" and Yelle's 2020 "Vue d'en face".
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,818 contributors worldwide.