Jacques Van Migom
Jacques Van Migom (1907-1980) is an architect Graduated by the State (DPE) active from 1934 to 1977. He was the founder and principal animator of the most important architectural agency in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône) during the second half of the 20th century: the Van Migom-Pélissier agency.
Jacques Van Migom was born in Paris on 26 November 1907 into a family from the North. In 1924, he joined the Architecture section of the Ecole Nationale des Arts décoratifs in Paris where he studied under Paul Genuys (1881-1938). He graduated in 1934, after a brilliant course during which he distinguished himself by winning the Charles Genuys Prize (1933) before being proclaimed major of his promotion. Jacques Van Migom exhibited at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts in 1933. The courses of the Institut d'Urbanisme de Paris, which he attended in 1932-33, introduced him to urban issues, while his early involvement in professional life taught him about the reality of agency work and the practice of construction. Between 1924 and 1937, he worked as a collaborator with Lucien Voog (1867-?) and in various Parisian agencies specializing in Historical Monuments, including that of his professor, Paul Genuys, but also that of Marcel Poutaraud (1881-?).
From 1935, Jacques Van Migom prepares the architectural competition for Historic Monuments within the Higher Education Course for the Conservation of Ancient Buildings. During the 1937 session, he was received third out of seventy-seven candidates, becoming the youngest ordinary architect of the Historical Monuments. On February 15, 1937, he was appointed to the department of Bouches-du-Rhône where, while practising as a liberal practitioner, he was responsible for the maintenance of all listed monuments. He carried out this mission under the successive direction of the chief architects of the Monuments historiques Jules Formigé (1879-1960) and Paul Colas (born 1908).
Jacques Van Migom chose to set up his agency in Arles, first at 3 avenue Victor Hugo and then, after the Second World War, at 8 rue de la Calade. Initially working alone, Jacques Van Migom soon developed his team. In 1947, Jean Pélissier (1927-2003), then a young student-architect, joined the agency as an intern before becoming Jacques Van Migom’s collaborator (1954) and partner (1957). In 1963, his eldest son – Michel Van Migom (1934-2007) – became the third member of a now tricephalous agency. Benefiting from the intense constructive activity of the years of Reconstruction and Growth, the Van Migom-Pélissier agency went from seven employees in January 1949 to nearly twenty people in the early 1970s.
In 1937, Jacques Van Migom succeeded Léon Véran (1869-1946) as the ordinary architect of historical monuments. In this capacity, he restored and maintained the main monuments of Arles (amphitheatre, Montmajour Abbey, ramparts, Town Hall, Saint-Julien churches, the Major, the Preachers brothers, Saint-Trophime primatiale). Between 1942 and 1944, it presided over the clearing of the cryptoporticos, an underground forum where 2,200 Arlesians found refuge during the bombings that preceded the Liberation. During the war, he had the difficult task of negotiating with the occupying authorities, particularly in the case of the Old Port of Marseilles, of which he made an inventory, demanding the maintenance of remarkable buildings and buildings along the quay. Later, during the reconstruction work, he directed the spectacular move of the Hôtel de l'Alderman of Cabre with Paul Colas. In accordance with the prerogatives of his office, Jacques Van Migom intervenes throughout the departmental territory: Aix-en-Provence (Saint-Jean-de-Mamalta church, Boyer d'Eguilles hotel, Carmelite chapel); Marseille (sacristies de Saint-Victor et de la Major, Hôtel de ville, château Borély), Les Baux-de-Provence (Hôtel de Ville, Saint-Vincent church, Chapelle des Pénitents), Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (Glanum site, Carolingian baptistery, Hôtel de Sade), Tarascon (King René’s castle, Sainte-Marthe church, City Hall).
Upon his arrival in Arles in 1937, the title of architect of Historical Monuments facilitated the installation of Jacques Van Migom as a liberal practitioner. It allowed him to establish himself quickly with a private clientele for which he mainly built houses, but also with public works owners who, like the cities of Nîmes, Gordes and Arles, entrusted him with the elaboration of their Development Plans or the construction of public buildings: school (Aureille, 1939) or sports equipment (Aureille, Fontvieille, Arles, projects initiated between 1937 and 1944).
Like many of his compatriots, Jacques Van Migom was mobilized at the end of August 1939, then returned to civilian life in 1940, following the signing of the armistice of 22 June. However, until the Liberation, it was reduced to a quasinactivity resulting from the Occupation, with the notable exception of its missions as architect of the Historical Monuments and some occasional commissions such as that emanating from the Ministry of the Interior, He was responsible for drawing up plans for what was then known as the Gypsy Village of Saliers (1942-1943).
Jacques Van Migom’s career really began only after the Second World War and continued until 1977, the official date of his retirement. He thus practised at an exceptional period in the history of French architecture, a period marked by a strong economic recovery induced by the Reconstruction (1945-1955) and the years of growth (1955-1979) which benefited the construction world. All the more so since, concomitantly with this favourable economic context, the needs of society in terms of architecture are increasing significantly, particularly in terms of housing and public facilities. Jacques Van Migom seizes this opportunity to create a substantial work, both in quantitative terms (more than 150 achievements are inventoried to date) and in qualitative terms. Indeed, Jacques Van Migom and his associates, Jean Pélissier and Michel Van Migom, developed an original architectural language based on a rational use of local cut stone associated with prefabricated elements. During the 1960s, they developed a construction process, the Pretaille model, from which they developed a series of models. They thus combine the rationalization of design and construction processes with the search for architectural quality. Jacques Van Migom thus significantly marks Arles as well as a whole series of towns and villages of Provence: Aix-en-Provence, Barbentane, Cabannes, Charleval, Chateaurenard, Fontvieille, Fos-sur-Mer, Lambesc, La Roque d'Anthéron, Martigues, Miramas, Noves, Orgon, Port-de-Bouc, Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, Rognonas, Saint-Martin-de-Cru, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Salon-de-Provence, Tarascon, Venelles.
Jacques Van Migom particularly distinguished himself in the field of housing, first by taking an active part in the reconstruction of the city of Arles under the direction of Pierre Vago (1910-2002), chief architect of which he was the main collaborator on the spot. Thus, as an architect of operation, he presided over the reconstruction of various islets representing a corpus of about six hundred dwellings located mainly in the sectors of Trinquetaille, Cavalerie and Lamartine-Stalingrad. He participated in the reconstruction of facilities that symbolize the city’s renaissance, including the Léon Blum school (in collaboration with Pierre Vago and Georges Imbert, 1951-1953) and the Saint-Pierre de Trinquetaille church (arch. Pierre Vago, 1952-1953) which he signed alone or in collaboration with Pierre Vago and Eugène Squelard several preliminary projects before Pierre Vago finally completed the project alone.
From 1950 onwards, the bulk of Jacques Van Migom’s agency’s activity was based on social housing programmes (collective or individual grouped). Winner of the reduced standards housing competition launched by the Bouches-du-Rhône General Council in 1953 and winning the first prize in the Million competition initiated by the Ministry of Construction and Housing in 1955, it builds housing units in the Trebon (arch. coll.: Georges Imbert, 1953-1957, 140 dwellings), Alyscamps (arch. coll.: Georges Imbert, 1955, 154 dwellings) and Bigot (100 dwellings). Soon, the Société d'Economie Mixte du Pays d'Arles (SEMPA) entrusted Van Migom-Pélissier with operations in Salin-de-giraud (two units of 44 and 37 units, 1957 and 1964-1967) and Griffeuille, which, with its 830 units, the first and only large complex built in Arles (1962-1974, in collaboration with Georges Imbert and Emile Sala). Subsequently, the Van Migom-Pélissier agency also built projects in Trinquetaille (Camargue, 24 dwellings, 1961-1962; extension of the Camargue group, 24 dwellings, 1966-1968) and Barriol (Les Roseaux, 120 dwellings, 1973-1974).
The agency Van Migom-Pélissier makes its mark on the newly urbanized areas of the cities of Aix-en-Provence (Val Saint-André, 430 dwellings; les Pâquerettes, 1974-1975), Chateaurenard (Vieille Carrière, 87 dwellings; Roque coquille, 271 dwellings, 1973-1975), by La Roque d'Anthéron (La Resquiette, 59 housing units, 1964-1967; La Jacourelette, 32 housing units, 1973-1975), by Miramas (La Carraire, Le Molière, La Cité des Jardins, Foyer des travailleurs migrants, nearly 1000 housing units in total) or by Tarascon (Ferrages du Cours, 300 dwellings, 1964-1968; Barailler-Haut, 1974-1975; Les Célibataires, 46 dwellings, 1974-1975). In the same cities, the Van Migom-Pélissier agency creates subdivisions of individual houses: Le Clos Brûlé (1964) and Chemin noir (87 pavilions) in Arles; La Grande Colle (84 pavilions, 1964-1966) in Port-de-Bouc; Molière (96 pavilions, 1964-1967) in Miramas; Val Saint-André (9 pavilions) in Aix-en-Provence; Les Lavandines (1972) in Gardanne, etc. In 1977, the agency had a total of 938 individual dwellings, mostly built according to the Pretaille process.
Beyond social housing alone, thanks to the use of cut stone, the agency Van Migom-Pélissier also renews the typology of the luxury apartment building intended for condominium sale. The team built nearly 25 between 1957 and 1977, including the Van Gogh residences (9 dwellings, 1963-1965), Le Provence (24 dwellings, 1964), La Bonne Mère (now Isabelle residence, 1964-1966), Georges Bizet (12 dwellings, 1973-1976), Le Central, Les Iris (1973) Arles; Les Launes (32 housing units, 1957-1959), L'Emperi (1971-1973) and Le Rose Thé (1974-1975) in Salon; Château Gaillard (formerly Les Bruyères, 12 housing units, 1965-1966) and Fraternité (18 housing units, 1965-1969) in Tarascon; San Marco (51 housing units, 1970-1973) and Venice in Martigues; Saint-Clerg (22 dwellings, 1970-1972) in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence; Fontlongue (1973) and Les Eyssauts (1974) in Miramas.
Public facilities – school groups, sports facilities, administrative buildings – are another area of focus. In the field of education, the Van Migom-Pélissier agency participated in the general movement of renewal of school architecture during the 1960s and 1970s. This is evidenced by the school groups of Ferrages (1963-1967, Tarascon), Griffeuille (1968-1969, Arles, in collaboration with Emile Sala), Barriol (1973-1975, Arles) and the Fraternité district (1973-1976, Tarascon). Their major works in this field remain the CES Van Gogh (1967-1970, Arles), that of Orgon (1973) and the Lycée de l'Emperi (Salon, 1965-1967). In the field of sports equipment, the Fournier stadium (1952-1964, Arles) is one of the most advanced complexes of those built in the department during the second half of the 20th century. The cities of Chateaurenard, Fontvieille and Miramas also call on Jacques Van Migom, Jean Pélissier and Michel Van Migom for their equipment. Finally, the three architects strongly mark the public space of Arles by means of particularly important administrative buildings: consular palace of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1972-1975, in collaboration with Emile Sala) and administrative city (1974-1980, in collaboration with Emile Sala). They also collect Tarascon (1958-1959), the tax houses of Tarascon (1966-1967) and Chateaurenard, the gendarmeries of Chateaurenard, La Roque d'Anthéron and Fos, the post offices of Aix-Val Saint-André, Paradou and Orgon.
At the same time, Jacques Van Migom, Jean Pélissier and Michel Van Migom built many facilities for health and public utility: the Gulf of Fos clinic (1965-1969, Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône); The Mediterranean (1969-1972, La Roque d'Anthéron); the Jeanne d'Arc clinic (1971-1973, Arles); Institut médico-pédagogique de Fontvieille (1967-1970), de la Roque d'Anthéron (1971-1974) and d'Arles (1973-1976). Under the leadership of Michel Van Migom, the agency specializes in the construction of nursing homes for the elderly with a dozen establishments of this type built in the department during the 1970s.
Finally, the Van Migom-Pélissier agency in Arles built a number of commercial buildings (Primotel, 1973-1976; various banking agencies), craft or industrial (Peugeot garage, Société méditerranéen d'emballage, 1973-1975; Guintoli establishments, 1974) as well as agricultural buildings (fruit cooperative L'Arlésienne, Les Vergers du Grand Rhône).
In his four decades of practice, Jacques Van Migom has thus created a substantial and multifaceted work that places him among the main players in the regional architectural scene. His approach, while remaining imbued with a certain sensitivity to history, the styles of the past and the local character of architecture, is based on a desire for renewal and anchorage in the present.
Sources
Archives
- AN CAC 19771065 art 234, Dossier de demande d'agrément de Jacques Van Migom auprès du ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme (1944).
- AN CAC 19771065 art 188, Dossier de demande d'agrément de Jean Pélissier auprès du ministère de la Reconstruction et de l'Urbanisme (1957).
- AM Arles, Fonds 15 S, Fonds des architectes Van Migom-Pélissier.
- AM Arles M 28, Dossier de demande d'agrément de Jacques Van Migom auprès du ministère de l'Education nationale (20 January 1949).
- AM Arles M 74, Curriculum vitae of Jacques Van Migom (21 July 1943).
- AM Arles 15 S 1181, Reference file of architects Jacques Van Migom, Jean Pélissier and Michel Van Migom (1973).
- Van Migom Michel, Dossier photographique des références de Michel Van Migom, AM ARLES document non coté.
Printed sources
- Van Migom Jacques, PELISSIER Jean, VAN MIGOM Michel, 40 years of architecture in Provence 1937-1977. Jacques Van Migom – Jean Pélissier – Michel Van Migom, 1977.
- Van Migom Hélène, A man, a builder. Jacques Van Migom, s.d. circa 1980, AM ARLES unnamed document.
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