The Historical Revisionism of Early Modernism

Glass Tile and the Maison de Verre

Christopher Lauzon

In the Maison de Verre one is confronted with a work

which defies any accepted form of classification.
- Kenneth Frampton, Perpecta (1969)
ABSTRACT: Designed between 1928 and 1932 by Pierre
Chareau and Bernard Bijvoet, the Maison de Verre is an
example of early Modernist architecture that was largely
forgotten for nearly four decades. In the midst of this
overlooked era, the buildings front faade of mortar and
glass tiles deteriorated and was replaced not by a
facsimile, but by a steel and glass reinterpretation of
Chareaus intention. The rediscovery of this altered Maison de Verre by Kenneth Frampton
in 1969, while overdue, was an unintentional victory for historical revisionism and Miesian
modernism. Unbeknownst to the architectural critic and historian, his monograph would
have a significant and lasting impact on the popular perception of the residence. While
Frampton was indeed correct in classifying the maison as unclassifiable, his focus on
discerning the relationship between form and function blinded him to the complexities
and contradictions of the exterior. Through oversight and the power of photography, the
new faade usurped the original aesthetic and tectonic intentions of Chareau and Bijvoet.
Frampton is not the sole source of blame however. By analyzing the original envelope
detail and tracking the architectural lineage of the Maison de Verre we can understand
the milieu and propaganda that precipitated this deception.

Introduction
The Maison de Verre (French, House of Glass)
was never a straightforward project. In 1918, Jean and
Annie Dalsace settled in Paris and asked Pierre Chareau
to design a new house for them and their future children.
Its program requirements were somewhat unusual a
medical clinic on the first floor for Jean (a gynecologist),
a modern home on the third floor, and a salon to host the
leftist avant-garde on the second floor.
The location of the residence would be on 31 Rue
St-Guillaume, a property gifted to the couple upon
wedlock. Tucked into a small courtyard, the preexisting
structure was an unremarkable, but typical Parisian
townhouse and apartment from the eighteenth century.

Fig. 1: The existing townhouse prior to construction.

From: Joan Kron and Suzanne Slesin, High-Tech: The Industrial Style
and Source Book for the Home. New York: Crown Publishers. 1984.

The project was almost derailed when an elderly

lady refused to vacate her apartment on the third floor.
Protected by tenant laws, Chareau was forced to
improvise the original upper floor would be supported
by steel pilotis to allow for the demolition of the first two
storeys and the insertion of a new house and clinic into
the superstructure.
While such a parasitic incision is not uncommon
today, it was an extremely rare operation in the 1920s. As
ascribed Modernists and members of the newly formed
Congrs International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM),
Chareau and his partner Bijvoet would have viewed
anything short of complete demolition as an abdication
of principle. It would be this ongoing compromise and
impure ideology that would give Maison de Verre its rich
complexity but vulnerable contradictions.

Urban Context

Fig. 2: Early construction with visible steel pilotis.

From: Joan Kron and Suzanne Slesin, High-Tech: The Industrial Style
and Source Book for the Home. New York: Crown Publishers. 1984.

Fig. 3: The Maison de Verre within the urban context of Paris.

The Maison de Verre is located in the St-Thomas

D'Aquin quarter of the 7th arrondissement in Paris (Figure
Figure
3). The arrondissements are 20 administrative districts
established during the reign of Napoleon and, much like
neighbourhoods in Toronto, have a distinct history and
association within the city. Located on the south bank of
the Seine and west of le de la Cit, the 7th
arrondissement was the area of residence for nobility in
the seventeenth century. As a result, the district has a
long history of aristocracy and affluence. The
arrondissement was also a political stronghold for
conservativism and parties loyal to the French monarchy.
By the early twentieth century, this conservatism
had largely been superseded by a wave of radical
liberalism that originated from the neighbouring 6th
arrondissement. Only a few blocks from the Maison de
Verre, the St-Germaine de Pres quarter of the 6th
arrondissement was the centre of Parisian intelligentsia.
By the 1920s, many leading surrealists, feminists,
Marxists, and existentialists resided in the area.
It was this blend of wealth, politics, and art
that suited the interests of the Dalsace family and
established a friendly atmosphere for Modernist
architecture. The Maison de Verre quickly became
associated with left-wing politics as it hosted popular
receptions for avant-garde artists and dignitaries. Jean
also provided discreet abortions in his clinic a
procedure not legalized in France until 1975. It was this
elite association with the radical left and reproductive
rights that forced the Dalsace family to abandon the
maison and flee Paris as the German occupation of Paris
approached in 1940. During a decade of disuse, the
Maison de Verre was largely forgotten by the outside
world. The same neglect also hastened the deterioration
of the courtyard faade.

The Original Courtyard Facade

The Maison de Verre was designed during a
transitional period in twentieth century architecture. In the
mid-1920s, Modernism was a rapidly maturing ideology and
aesthetic. Despite the Corbusian ideal of constructing a
house as a machine for living, means and methods were still
in infancy. Quite ironically, the machine aesthetic was still
largely achieved through craft and handiwork at great
expense. Chareau and Bijvoets design should be viewed this
lens. If constructed just a decade later, the Maison de Verre
would have likely employed structural glass block or a
translucent curtainwall. But in the mid-1920s, these
technologies were either new or unknown. Gropius Bauhaus
in Germany the first successful attempt to use the system
was only completed in 1926. Given this technological
handicap, the architects devised a new hybrid enclosure to
meet their needs. Part curtainwall, part window wall, and part
masonry wall, this untested faade was a living prototype. Its
shortcomings along with the invention of the structural glass
block in 1932 meant the enclosure was obsolete before
completion.
In 1928, Saint Gobain was the first firm to manufacture
functional glass tiles at an industrial scale in Europe (Figure
Figure 6)
6).
At just four centimeters thick however, the company could not
guarantee the tiles as self-bearing. Therefore Chareaus
decision to clad the exterior of the Dalsace residence in glass
tile required a system of steel support (see Figures
Figures 7 and 8).
8
Six rows of four glass tile units comprise one panel and each
panel is supported by two 30x15mm transom channels. The
load is transferred to two identical steel channel mullions
welded to a steel plate for rigidity). While exposed on the
interior, this framework was originally covered with mortar on
the exterior. This construction technique gave the faade a
unifying appearance of glass and concrete.

Fig. 4: Newly installed glass tile panels.

Fig. 5: Interior view of the framework.

From: http://www.yellowtrace.com.au/maison-de-verreparis-pierre-chareau-bernard-bijvoet/

Fig. 6: Nevada glass tile by Saint Gobain

From: Saint Gobain
www.saint-gobain350ans.com

Fig. 7: Plan and section details.

Fig. 8: Sectional perspective through second storey salon.,

Material Lineage and Technique

Glass is an ancient material, but the creation
of the glass tiles grew from of two important
precedents: vault lights and prismatic glass. Both
antecedents were developed in the late nineteenth
century to placate the need for greater natural lighting
in factories and commercial basements. Vault lights,
themselves an evolution of maritime deck lights, were
typically small cylindrical pieces of solid glass set into
a cast iron panel. (F
Figure 9).
9
Prismatic glass tiles were another popular
means of daylighting in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. Manufactured as solid square
glass tiles, the inside face was lined with prismatic
ridges to direct and diffuse light deep into interior
space (Figure
Figure 10).
10 Prismatic glass made a pivotal move
towards vertical application but remained wholly nonloadbearing. Nevertheless, the possibility of an
expansive wall of translucent glass is imaged by Frank
Lloyd Wright in an 1898 design competition (Figure
Figure
11).
11
Top Right:

Fig. 9: Vault lights.

From: The Manufacturer and Builder, Vol. 7,
Iss. 8, August 1875

Bottom Right:

Fig. 10: A prismatic glass tile.

From: www.urbanremainschicago.com

Left:

Fig. 11: F. L. Wrights entry for a

1898 design competition.
From: Rossela Corrao. Glassblock and
Architecture. Firenze, Italy: LC Printing. 2010.

Architectural Precedent and Influence

Only in France is it possible for an architect
to trust the [ferro-concrete] material
unconditionally.
- Sigfried Giedion
Design is not conceived in a vacuum. Chareau
and Bijvoet would have been influenced by both
contemporary Parisian architecture and by a small
portfolio of buildings that sought to expand the
material possibilities of glass. These precedents offer
plausible insight into the material and construction
choices behind the Maison de Verre.
Prior to 1914, vertical application of glass tile
was limited to nonstructural prisms. Constructed for
the 1914 Cologne Deutscher Werkbund Exhibition,
Bruno Tauts temporary Glass Pavilion (Figure
Figure 12
12)
introduced new possibilities in glass architecture.
Referred to as the Keppler-System, the translucent
tiles used by Taut could carry their self-weight in small
stacks, thereby allowing for the creation of glass
partition walls. A nearly identical system would be
used fourteen years later at the Maison de Verre.
Chareau and Bijvoet was also likely influenced
by contemporary French precedent. France had
industrialized slower in the 19th century than its
English and German neighbours and had not
fetishized steel construction to a similar degree.
Instead, early French Modernists preferred reinforced
concrete. Le Corbusier spent most the 1920s
designing concrete villas in and around Paris. (In
particular, Villa La Roche could have offered site and
massing inspiration.) Auguste Perrets glise NotreDame du Raincy (Figure
Figure 13), completed in 1923, was
likely a strong influence on Chareau as well its
concrete framed stained glass window system, both
square and modular, heavily invoke a comparison to
Maison de Verre.

Fig. 12 Exterior and interior view of Tauts Glass

Pavilion
Fig. 13: Interior view of glise Notre-Dame du Raincy
From: Rossela Corrao. Glassblock and Architecture. Firenze,
Italy: LC Printing. 2010.

From: www.flickr.com/photos/barnabas_calder/10776039164/sizes/l

Deterioration and Modification

While neglect through the 1940s accelerated
the deterioration of the courtyard faade, it was not
the sole catalyst. The continued survival of the garden
faade (Figure
Figure 15)
15 implies the importance of site and
massing.
With a flush vertical face, the courtyard
envelope received little protection from the elements.
Facing westward, it spent all but the late afternoon in
the shade. As a result, the porous mortar was
continuously damp especially during the Parisian
winter. Combined with a freeze-thaw process, the
cement mix rapidly cracked and crumbled. Unable to
support its dead load, the glass tiles chipped and
cracked. This appearance stood in contrast to the
garden elevation. Exposed to the morning sun and
protected by balconies and cantilevers, the mortar
and glass tiles remained relatively intact.
By the 1950s the west face of the Maison de
Verre approached complete failure (Figure
Figure 17).
17 Very
little is known about the rebuild beyond its current
appearance. Research could not determine an
architect or firm responsible for the overhaul. It is
known that Saint Gobain reproduced new Nevada
tiles specifically for the house. The manufacturing
process for glass tiles (since replaced by structural
blocks) had change significantly in the twenty years
since the maisons construction. No longer artisanal
and cast in sand, the new tiles were produced fully
through mechanization. As a result, the replacements
lacked the lead impurities that gave the originals their
distinct colour and refraction properties (Figure
Figure 16).
16
To better support the tiles, the steel channels
were deepened by roughly twenty millimeters and
then capped with a plate. Consequently this exposed
the frame to the exterior and reduced the breadth of
the mortar joints. It was a small difference that
significantly altered the outward appearance and the
Maison de Verre.

Fig. 15: Garden faade in January 2016.

Fig. 16: Original Nevada tiles (left) compared to the

1950s reproductions (right).

Photo by author
From: www.culture.gouv.fr/

Fig. 14: Site and first floor plan.

Fig. 17: Maison de Verre circa 1950. Deterioration of the faade is quite evident.

From: Kenneth Frampton, Perpecta (1969)

From: http://www.yellowtrace.com.au/maison-de-verre-paris-pierre-chareau-bernard-bijvoet/

Victory for Revisionism

Glass Tile after Maison de Verre

It is hard to imagine the deviation from

Chareau and Bijvoets original design as a mere
necessity of tectonics. In the post-Second World
War period of late Modernism, the complexities
and contradictions of the Maison de Verre made
it difficult to categorize. Quite simply, the
residence appeared to stand apart from an ideal
lineage of pre-war architecture.
Viewing the original faade from the
exterior invoked Le Corbusier and an evolution
towards Brutalism. Viewing the original faade
from the interior was quite different; it invoked
Gropius, the Bauhaus tradition, and an evolution
towards the International Style. Translucency
never allowed a concurrent view of both sides of
the same faade - the Maison de Verre could be
dishonest in its materials. This was incongruent
with the romantic ideals placed on early
Modernism by late Modernism. In the eyes of
post-war architecture, retroactive purity and
categorization was preferred. Support for this
statement can be found in Figure 17 the
photographer has cropped the top of maison
from its impure surroundings.
The overwhelming influence of the
International Style on twentieth century
architecture is an omnipresent bias which allows
the uncritical acceptance of the revised faade the exposed steel frame appears logical to both
lay and architectural eyes. Steel, not concrete,
became associated with expansive glass facades.

Maison de Verre falls into an incredibly

brief era in glass architecture. Saint Gobains
distinct glass tiles were released in 1928 and
superseded by glass block technology in 1932.
Nevertheless they caught the interest of Le
Corbusier, who install them into his own
apartment (Figure
Figure 18).
18 He would also prominently
employ the product in his design for the Salvation
Army Refuge completed in Paris in 1933 (Figure
Figure
19).
19
Glass blocks would become a key
component of Streamline Moderne architecture in
the United States and Europe. Its strong aesthetic
association became a detriment as the style faded
from popularity. Glass block architecture was
saved from extinction in the late 1970s by a small
group of architects (including Tadao Ando) that
were drawn the materials effect on light.
Postmodern
architecture
once
again
rediscovered the glass brick and incorporated
them heavily into design. Once again a strong
aesthetic association became a detriment as the
style faded from popularity in the 1990s. Most
recently, both the shape and means of assembly
of glass bricks are being reimagined.

Fig. 18: Nevada tiles behind Le Corbusiers wash basin.

Fig. 19: Salvation Army Refuge by Le Corbusier (1933).

From: Artists Rights Society. Tchco-Verre. Vol. 2, No. 14 (1935).

From: Brian Taylorr. Le Corbusier: The City of Refuge. 1987.