Finding the house

Images Ariel Huber

"Have these beautiful and serious buildings repaired. Repair them with care, with intelligence, with sobriety. Victor Hugo

When it passed into the hands of the next generation of the family in 1947, the estate was no more than fifty years old. Barely two generations of owners had succeeded one another, each having tweaked the jewel a little to suit their needs or the trends of the times. So what are the circumstances that gave birth to this incredible house on this exceptional site?

Archival and administrative documents from the late 19th century reveal a desire for change. On this part of the left bank of Lake Geneva, magnificently turned towards the setting sun, major changes were shaping a new landscape. In the immediate vicinity of the port of Bellerive, the private land now directly overlooked the lake. A year later, new plots were created when the Rivollet-Mermoz countryside - as these estates, reserved for the aristocracy, were known - was broken up. Acquired by Louis-Omer Martel, the plot in question was the subject of an application for permission submitted in June 1895 to build a villa and two outbuildings. The meagre documents indicate that, in the service of Mr Martel, it was the contractor Elisée Streit-Baron who took charge of the work, it being understood that the three buildings were designed by the architect Gustave Brocher. The use of this tandem reflects the ambitions of the client.
Elisée Streit-Baron (1859-1937), whose attractive letterhead read "Maçonnerie, Gypserie & Peinture", was a shrewd and influential businessman and future Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Caisse d'Épargne and the Banque Populaire Genevoise. Gustave Brocher (1851-1918), who trained at the École polytechnique in Stuttgart and then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, was a very active architect in the canton, commissioned for numerous projects.
Played by four hands, this score marks a certain break with the production of the period. While the design options unsurprisingly reflect the owner's level of standing, the vocabulary proposed is based on the neo-Norman style of seaside architecture, which was rare but not unheard of on the shores of Lake Geneva.
This trend, which originated in north-western France, seemed to set itself up as a model for a new kind of holiday architecture, far removed from classical references. Rooted in a Nordic regionalism that was ultimately quite close to the landmarks of Geneva, the somewhat austere style was characterised by timber-framed structures and polychrome brickwork, all compacted into a volume under a roof that was as complex as it was steep. Initially conceived as a two-storey, three-bay building, the house now stands in the middle of a superb park, its western facade facing the grey and blue waters of the lake. On the access road side, on either side of the building itself and designed in the same language, the two outbuildings symmetrically mark the entrance to the property.
A marvel of elegance, this ensemble has been modified over the decades and according to changing desires, without ever losing its soul. Whether it's a question of external improvements (greenhouse, henhouse, riprap on the lake) or various transformations (notably on the sides of the house), the interventions reach a high level of quality and authenticity.

Léon Dufour (1879-1972) became the official owner in 1947, and was very familiar with the house, which he and his family had been renting for ten years. This industrialist, who was heavily involved in the Geneva economy - he worked for the Ateliers de Sécheron, SIP and the SIMAR factory - wanted to give the building a new lease of life, challenging the original architectural vocabulary. The brief he gave to architect Antoine Leclerc (1874-1963) was to do away with the characteristic features of the late 19th century and to assert a language of sobriety, echoing both the classicising references of the bourgeois villas built on the shores of Lake Geneva and the modernist trends developed in the 1930s.
The most radical of these is undoubtedly the removal of the spire that adorns the central bay facing the lake. Flanked by two brick chimneys, this typical feature disappears along with the ornamental tinwork crowning the ridge, while the motifs on the glazed bricks and natural wood fade away under a wise white rendering. Validated by a Commission for Monuments, Nature and Sites, which made a few minor recommendations, this change to the façade does not really detract from the expression of the house. Like the replacement of the veranda on the south wing and the transformation of the covered terrace on the north wing, the other modifications carried out by an architect already in his seventh year in charge of the building have not lost any of their original character.
The house thus entered the second half of the 20th century still adorned with its finery and its major typological principles. Bathed in light, the day rooms on the ground floor look out over Lake Geneva, while the service and distribution rooms continue to face the courtyard. Accessed by a handsome staircase with a double-quarter turn and intermediate landing, the first floor follows the same formula, with bedrooms with balconies that open generously onto the lakeside landscape and secondary spaces facing the rear. The rule continues on the second floor, but in a more compartmentalised space. From top to bottom, the exterior envelope has retained its wide slate panels, eaves brackets, purlin heads and carved wooden railings, its cladding and facing bricks, its frames, most of its old joinery and its Meillerie stone base. Outside, on the plot, the gardener's house was modified and extended, while a harbour cove protected by a stone jetty was created on the water's edge. With no major changes apart from a few technical installations and various outdoor features, the situation remained unchanged for more than seven long decades.

When he took over ownership of the property, his grandson found himself back in a house he knew, which still had many historic features but was extremely dilapidated, with outdated finishes and outdated standards.
Contrary to the grandfather's ambitions, the intention now is to recover the DNA of the building, its intrinsic identity built up over time, without ostentatious modernisation or nostalgic pastism. The clarity of the project will be established on the basis of meticulous research into the archives, both private and institutional. The history of the house is gradually revealed through period documents, like a silver image under the red light of a photographic laboratory. The architectural project is developed on the basis of reliable, factual sources, backed up by on-site surveys and soundings.
The most spectacular intervention was the restoration of the spire, which disappeared in 1947. Reconstructed using precious iconography, this central architectural element - in both the literal and figurative sense - allows a faithful reading of the façade designed more than a century ago by Gustave Brocher. Its striking presence facing Lake Geneva characterises both the building volume and the surrounding landscape. The meticulous restoration work not only restores the overall proportions, but also the original materials and, down to the smallest detail, the various decorative elements. 
From the spire itself to the complex volume of the roof, this is the case, for example, with the treatment of the small central dormer, all the ornamental tinsmithing that elegantly highlights the ridges and peaks of the roofs, or the geometric figures painted on the slates. In the absence of documentation, a new framework system was reinvented. In keeping with the work carried out on the exterior, it was designed using traditional methods and is likely to be based on the original timber structure.
The subtle interior modifications are designed to create a fluid distribution between the rooms, without impacting on the historic substance. By maintaining the organisation of the main spaces, the wood panelling, the ceilings with their moulded cornices and the parquet floors, whose varied patterns and combination of species decorate the adjoining lounges on the ground floor, have been preserved. More modestly, the pretty polychrome cement tiles in the entrance hall and the herringbone parquet flooring on the upper floors have also been preserved. 
The replacement of old elements that had become too damaged, or the replacement of heterogeneous fixtures and fittings created over the years, was the subject of careful consideration, based on the need to create a new home in an existing building with strong historical significance. The options chosen reflect a certain art of building, through the use of noble materials and matt finishes that have already acquired a patina. These references have stood the test of time, and can still be seen in the classic choice of sanitary fittings (appliances and taps) and in the design of certain fixed units with their judiciously refined lines. On the other hand, we can also highlight the presence of undeniable quality antique elements, left virtually untouched so as not to corrupt their heritage value. These include the figurative wallpaper in the entrance WC, the stained glass window on the courtyard façade, several marble fireplaces and a splendid earthenware stove with a curved dome.
From the basement to the attic, a delicate range of colours enhances the various wall sections and floor areas, creating a dialogue between the contemporary fittings and the restored spaces. More broadly speaking, these principles, which reconcile the existing with the new, also apply to the exterior, with, for example, the old windows retained (and thermally upgraded), coupled with new joinery featuring both modern and traditional lines, all perfectly integrated with the wooden structures, brickwork and rendered surfaces, all elegantly renovated. This reflex has also been extended to the two outbuildings, which have had their cladding beautifully reworked.

Preserving the identity of the site, rediscovering the splendour of yesteryear and, at the same time, not shying away from modern aesthetics or comforts was no easy task. While the choices often gave rise to serious doubts, the concrete tasks of restoring or restoring the decorations, the discreet but effective technical upgrades, the upgrading of the outside landscaping and the attention paid to the outbuildings have finally given this ensemble of buildings and landscaping a coherent whole. Set in its own grounds, the house has a balanced feel, without anachronistic home automation or old-fashioned swimming pools. Facing the waters of the lake, in what appears to be one of the most beautiful locations in the canton, it now fully embraces its past and looks to the future with serenity.

Before the renovation