The E-1027 House: Scandals and Death

September 17, 2018 6:50 PM

Eileen Gray’s E-1027 French villa hasn’t lived a charmed life: It has survived desecration by Le Corbusier, target practice by the Nazis, a drug den etc. The house certainly had optimistic—and idealistic—beginnings. “One must build for the human being, that he might rediscover in the architectural construction the joys of self-fulfillment in a whole that extends and completes him,” Gray wrote in the 1929 issue of L’Architecture Vivante. “Even the furnishings should lose their individuality by blending in with the architectural ensemble.” The villa was intended as a peaceful retreat for Gray and her then lover, Romanian architect, critic, and editor of L’Architecture Vivante, Jean Badovici, who had partially contributed to the project’s design.
posted by MovableBookLady (7 comments total)

Kind of goes without saying but Gray was more or less left out of the canon of modern architecture except as an also ran for decades. Architecture was not and still is not a bastion of equality.

Allegedly Corbusier would also walk around in the house naked after his ocean swims, against E. Gray’s wishes. What a dick.
posted by q*ben at 8:13 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

Some follow up reading.
posted by q*ben at 8:16 PM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

I've "visited" E-1027. It's stunning. No one in the area (I lived in Nice) has kind words to say about how Le Corbusier treated it. He built his personal cabanon and some vacation cabins right next to it. They're so different from E-1027; Le Corbusier's ego comes through in his architecture, especially his murals. Whereas E-1027 is self-evident.

Glad to see restoration continuing; seems like every year people would say "E-1027 is being restored and finally reopening!"

FYI I take issue with the article here: Menton lemons were once a regional specialty. It ain't hard to hear about the annual lemon festival that's still huge. That's like going to modern-day California, spotting a redwood element in a home, and saying "redwood was once a regional specialty."
posted by fraula at 11:36 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

Against Gray’s wishes, Le Corbusier, as Bodovici’s guest, painted murals on the walls. The French-Swiss architect even tried to buy the house but failed, instead purchasing property nearby where he built a small cabin, the Cabanon de vacances.

The degradation continued during World War II when German soldiers practiced their aim against E-1027’s walls.

More death was to follow. In 1980, E-1027’s then-owner, Marie-Louise Schelbert was found dead in her flat in Zurich. Three days prior, her physician, Dr. Peter Kägi had secretly snuck almost all of Gray’s original furniture out and auctioned it off in Zurich. When Schelbert died, Kägi inherited the house, using it host an array of hedonistic affairs, notably drug-fueled orgies. In 1996, this came to an end when he was murdered in the living room.

This is one of those horror stories where the house is haunted by shitty people. I hope it finds some peace now that its demons have been exorcised.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 5:31 AM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

I seem to recall reading about an earlier botched renovation, full of off-the-shelf fixtures from the home center and whatnot. I'm happy that things seem to be on the right track, finally. Le Corbusier was a total dick here, but the Cabanon is worth a visit if you're in the area and an architecture nerd.

There was a fantastic retrospective of Gray's work at the Centre Pompidou about five years ago.
posted by St. Oops at 6:41 AM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I kind of like Corbusier's murals, though it would be nice if they could get removed to some other location since Gray hated them.

I'm sad now that I'd never heard of this house, nor that Gray did more than design furniture. It looks gorgeous.
posted by dnash at 8:44 AM on September 18, 2018

Hopefully they can rehome the garish Le Corbusier murals. They probably aren't allowed to sell them to raise money for the restoration work.

I've lived with an E-1027 table since the early 1990s. Its origins were carefully explained to 12 year old me, and I have had great fun spotting it and its knock-offs in film and television over the years. I thought Eileen Gray was more well known than she seems to be.
posted by monopas at 9:46 AM on September 18, 2018