Le Corbusier's La Maison Blanche

October 18,2022

When one thinks of the White House, visions of classical columns and a lush rose garden come to mind. Yet there is another building of note that is also referred to as the white house, or La Maison Blanche . The first independent project designed by the Swiss architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret—better known as Le Corbusier , the name he adopted in the early 1920s—the residence was built in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, in 1912. La Maison Blanche was commissioned by the architect’s parents to be the family’s home, and the influences of Le Corbusier’s time in Paris with Auguste Perret and in Vienna with Josef Hoffmann are evident in the structure’s simplicity, its richness of detail, and the masterful integration of site plan and interior design. Upon a recent visit to the building, which was restored in 2005 and now serves as a museum, I was struck by its many decorative flourishes—the floral wallpaper, antique furniture, ornamental hardware, diaphonous curtains—which seem at odds with the discipline of the dwelling itself. His parents, wanting the residential comforts one would associate with a middle-class family in 1912 Europe, engaged the services of Parisian decorator André Groult, whose work was somewhat of a compromise between tradition and modernism. One room on the upper floor, however, was designed entirely by Le Corbusier and used as his work space, revealing the architectural rigors that would manifest itself in his future work. Many years later, while discussing his own furniture designs, Le Corbusier stated, “Chairs are architecture, sofas are bourgeois.” It’s fascinating to see the two worlds coincide.

Click to see my photos of this early masterpiece.

“Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes” will be on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from June 15–September 23. And beginning June 8, AD is sponsoring a two-day symposium in conjunction with the exhibit; click here to learn more .