Built in 1906 by Marseille architect Pierre Julien for Auguste Borelly, a former merchant in Durango, Villa Durango breaks away from the picturesque model and displays a new approach of simplicity.
The clean, refined lines of the elevation and the two protruding volumes reflect an early concern for modernity, counterbalanced by the overhanging roofs with corbels. Curved, truncated columns, paired in the centre, support the terrace of this building, which is in keeping with the rationalist movement and heralds modernity.
Preserved in their original condition, the décor and furnishings of the bathroom illustrate the quality achieved in some villas by the ‘wet room’.
Communicating directly with the bedroom, the bathroom or toilet reflects a concern for hygiene and convenience that was constant at the end of the 19th century. Like the kitchen, it was necessarily clad in earthenware tiles and offered a more or less ambitious décor, depending on the importance attached to it, sometimes associated with the ornamentation of the master bedroom.
Here, in a harmonious two-tone white and green scheme, the décor features a floral and plant theme that extends around the entire perimeter. In the lower part, water irises are combined with aquatic plants, above which dragonflies fly. The earthenware tiles here come from the Parisian manufacturer Sand & Cie, which specialises in stoneware tiles and mosaics.
Preserved in their original condition, the décor and furnishings of the bathroom illustrate the quality achieved in some villas by the ‘wet room’.
Communicating directly with the bedroom, the bathroom or toilet reflects a concern for hygiene and convenience that was constant at the end of the 19th century. Like the kitchen, it was necessarily clad in earthenware tiles and offered a more or less ambitious décor, depending on the importance attached to it, sometimes associated with the ornamentation of the master bedroom.
Here, in a harmonious two-tone white and green scheme, the décor features a floral and plant theme that extends around the entire perimeter. In the lower part, water irises are combined with aquatic plants, above which dragonflies fly. The earthenware tiles here come from the Parisian manufacturer Sand & Cie, which specialises in stoneware tiles and mosaics.