Les villas de villégiature à Pau

You are in a neighborhood of villas built when Pau was a highly sought-after resort. Claude Laroche, a researcher with the heritage and inventory department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, presents the main characteristics of these luxury residences and some examples of the largest villas in Pau. These grand villas were arranged around large parks and also featured very elaborate housing layouts, with reception areas often located on the ground floor—ground floors frequently raised because kitchens were still often found in the basement at that time, complete with dumbwaiters and pantry systems—and, of course, the bedrooms on the upper floors. The concept of a view was extremely important for these villas during that period. Villa St. Basile, built in the 1880s and subsequently transformed in the 1930s, acquired its current appearance, notably the beautiful living room decor painted by René Marie Castaing in 1935. Villa Sorrento, located a little further along, is one of the most spectacular and was built in roughly two stages. The first stage, in 1884, consisted of an initial module, to which the entire extension, the addition of a story, the colonnade, and the rotunda were added around 1903, giving Villa Sorrento its equally spectacular appearance. Villa Biatrix is ​​situated on the border between Pau and Billère. These villas reflect the fashions and expressions of the time; they are often highly sophisticated creations by renowned architects, both national and local. All these grand villas I mentioned often had Parisian or local patrons, or prominent local figures, very rarely English. In fact, the English rent or buy villas later that weren't originally built for them. So, we need to put this notion of an "English villa" into perspective. There's a second phase that roughly begins at the start of the 20th century. These villas are quite similar to what we see in other cities: commissioned by local people who want a bit more space than in the city center, with a clientele that is no longer made up of royalty or other elites, but rather university professors, doctors, and so on. This is another phase of the villa in Pau. ******************************* Did you find this video interesting? Subscribe to this YouTube channel! Find all our heritage videos here: https://www.patrimoine-nouvelle-aquit... Discover the other videos in this video guide series:    • Destination Pau   Also discover all our videos on this topic:    • Châteaux, tours et fortifications