The construction in 1903 of La Rose des Alpes, located at the entrance to the town and aligned with the Villa Les Tourelles, quickly became a major undertaking for its sponsor, Jules Lions, a former merchant in Puebla.
Founder of the La Ciudad de Mexico department store, Jules Lions commissioned no fewer than three architects between 1891 and 1903: John Smith, an English architect based in Manchester (preliminary regionalist design from 1891), and two architects from Grenoble, Girard-Reydet and Francis Girard (preliminary designs from 1901). Francis Girard signed the final design in 1903. For his first project in the valley, Francis Girard inaugurated a series of buildings with the same design, including a new type of square layout incorporating a veranda, which was widely replicated until 1910 and taken up again between the wars by his two architect sons, who succeeded him.
The new architectural project thus marked the transition from the simple parallelepiped model of the 1880s to the ambitious and complex villa-château that characterised the prosperous 1900s.
The design of the ironwork, very slightly influenced by Art Nouveau, combining railings, balconies, veranda, canopy and gate, is characteristic of Francis Girard's style, identical to that of the ironwork he produced in the same year for the Villa Puebla.
La Rose des Alpes has been preserved in its original state. Only the mural under the veranda, featuring a floral design, has disappeared, covered over with white plaster.
Built on the same plan (the wing at right angles replacing the polygonal front section of La Rose des Alpes), the Villa Les Rocailles in Jausiers retains this element of painted wall decoration.
The new architectural project thus marked the transition from the simple parallelepiped model of the 1880s to the ambitious and complex villa-château that characterised the prosperous 1900s.
The design of the ironwork, very slightly influenced by Art Nouveau, combining railings, balconies, veranda, canopy and gate, is characteristic of Francis Girard's style, identical to that of the ironwork he produced in the same year for the Villa Puebla.
La Rose des Alpes has been preserved in its original state. Only the mural under the veranda, featuring a floral design, has disappeared, covered over with white plaster.
Built on the same plan (the wing at right angles replacing the polygonal front section of La Rose des Alpes), the Villa Les Rocailles in Jausiers retains this element of painted wall decoration.
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