If the investigations on architecture of the second twentieth century are now about ten years old, this heritage remains largely less recognized by the edility and the public, hence the interest of the censuses and monographs proposed here. Logically, after the census phase, which delimited the corpus of ensembles and residencies in Marseilles in its extension, the aim was to reduce their contours in order to develop a greater understanding, formalized by the monograph sheets. By definition, they reflect only one object of the corpus, but all the monographs thus constitute a collection covering a series of similar objects allowing the construction of typologies, classifications and comparisons.
1.1344 - Saint-Just Palmieri
13th arrondissement in the northeast of the city
Literature references: 20th century heritage, domestic architecture
X Edition directory no. 1344, p. 35. 2005
Conception & writing T. Durousseau arch. 2007
designation: Saint-Just Palmieri and Garderie
rue Amédée Palmieri and rue Lionel Terray, quartier des Chutes Lavie 13014
Lambert 3: latitude 3.0480; longitude 43.3218
Access: bus 81: roundabout Prado - Canebière - La Rose
Owner: OPAC South, 80 Albe Street, 13004, 04 91 12 71 00
program: Project of 187 housing program of allocation of Buildings Without Immediate Assignment.
Contracting authority: Ministry of Reconstruction and Housing.
Set of 9 buildings. Equipment planned in the first tranche.
dates, authors: Favourable opinion of the Ministry 1946,
1st tranche (Palmieri): 1947-1950. 2nd tranche (Garderie): 1956-1959.
R. M. Mauger, F. Lioger, Borrely, A. Caron, L. Chambion, Ch. Favele, G. Gensollen, Gouirand, architects.
L. Arnaud, sculptor.
Companies La Concorde, SNCT, Balcchi and Careghi.
site: Between Saint-Just and Lavie Falls, east of the Longchamp bypass of the Marseille Canal. East slope towards the Jarret major bed. Altitude between 67.00 and 58.70 m. Residential area discontinued E on the Master Town Planning Plan of 1949.
mass plane: Implantation on both sides of the ring road, discontinuous alignment of the cob buildings. The original plan envisaged the avenue as an urban boulevard, easily accessible. Buildings oriented according to the cardinal points. Differentiated spaces, sometimes open on Fleming Avenue. Spreading: R+14 tower, others R+4 on cellars.
frame: Traditional masonry constructions, walls and central slitting, stone façades and plastering on the floors for the first slice. Terraces at the foot of buildings. Entrances decorated with sculptures. The following slices, closer to the common bars, without ornamentation. Very good general condition.
sources: AD: 2071 W 10 (34.574),165 W 193, 12 O 112, 7 FTE 213-215
Technique and Architecture, 1946
Background:
During the period of Reconstruction (1946-1954), the priority of housing financing was the relocation of the inhabitants who had lost their property as a result of war damage, organized within trade union associations. The second route included those whose properties were affected by planning measures. Given the slowness of these procedures, from 1944, the principle of Buildings Without Immediate Assignment (ISAI) is put in place by the administration without financial participation or practice of the victims. With the ISAI, fully pre-funded by the State (to be used for future war damages), the French administration built residential buildings for the first time.
The directives of the Ministry of Reconstruction imposed surfaces for each type of apartment and certain standards of comfort. The ISAI will also be one of the first means of experimenting with new forms of housing in Le Havre with A. Perret, in Maubeuge with A. Lurçat and in Marseille where Le Corbusier creates the Cité Radieuse as an ISAI. In 1956, a report of the Court of Auditors concluded that the State had no intention of collecting rents and instructed the Department of Estates to proceed with the sale of these dwellings.
The initial project, which included a dozen buildings, including a 16-storey tower, comprised the future Alexandre Fleming Avenue and had fewer than 300 dwellings. It brought together no less than 10 architects including R.M. Mauger, F. Lioger, Borrely, A. Caron, L. Chambion, Ch. Favele, G. Gensollen, Gouirand. One may ask the question of the large number of men of art for such a program. No doubt it must be compared with the demands of the Marseilles architects who asked for their participation in the Cité Radieuse, an operation similar to that of Saint-Just.
Only the first 122 units will be built between 1948 and 1950 according to this plan, under the name of Saint-Just Palmieri. After the acquisition by the Office Public d'HLM Départemental, a second tranche, Saint-Just Garderie, designed by R.M. Mauger, will be implemented by La Concorde, SNCT, Balicchi and Careghi, between 1956 and 1960.
Description:
Despite the reversals of the operation, the mass plan will remain unchanged. Organized on both sides of the CVO72, today avenue Fleming, treated then more in progress than in urban ring road. The arrangement of the buildings according to the cardinal points, draws an alignment in saw tooth giving an open and antiperspective character to the overall plan. Originally a 16-storey tower was planned on the north island, which was accompanied by a "shopping centre". To the south, in the mesh again four-storey buildings, was to be built a child care center that will not be realized. These social programs, combined with the generous spaces between the buildings, treated as kindergartens or ball games, and sometimes open on the central track, show a rather urban and airy conception of the initial project. The maintenance of the plan after 1956 was due to the renewal of the architect R.M. Maugée.
For buildings, the difference between the two project periods is more pronounced. The first constructions, four buildings in the southern part are of a neoclassical style. The foundations of cold stone are concluded by a prominent band, above which the full body of facade is made of plaster with a drawing of joints drawn with iron. It is pierced by windows with projecting frames. On the southern façades, the upper part of the frame extends into a horizontal awning in a kind of sunshade. The floors are repetitive and the facade is crowned by a small double rise cornice close to those of Perret. On the roof terrace of the recessed superstructures, very glazed, shelter dryers, another sign of a marked social character.
The entrances of buildings, clad in elegant grey marble stones, are decorated with groups sculpted on the theme of family, children. Made of Calissanne stone, they are signed Louis Arnaud; their current state calls for a restorative cleaning and protection. The structure is made of masonry walls, with supporting facade and central slit that gives buildings of a thickness not exceeding eight meters.
The second slice is more in the post-reconstruction standard. The mass plane persists but without the tower. The shopping centre and daycare are now just dotted shapes on the plans.
The design of the plans remains close with smaller common areas and no drying terrace. Loggias have this role, they are equipped with horizontal concrete winds. The entrances are decorated only with a simple awning, only a few gables are still in stone cyclopean apparatus.
There are still some traces of the exterior fittings, small rotunda, paved in curbs of cold stonework, sidewalks in degrees, paved with stones with reserves for trees. No doubt the superficial arrangements should take up again this handwriting, particularly careful.
Authors:
Albert Carron, architect
1961, apartment building, Chutes Lavie, Marseille,
1962, real estate project, Les Caillols, Marseille,
1962, HLM Châteauneuf-les-Martigues,
1963, real estate in Tarascon,
1964, apartment building, Les Réformés, Marseille.
Louis Chambion, Charles Favel, architects
1954, apartment building, Sainte-Marguerite, Marseille,
1954, real estate development, Saint-Louis, Marseille,
1956-62, apartment building, Sainte-Marguerite, Marseille,
1957-59, HLM, La Conception Marseille,
1964, apartment building, Martigues.
Guy Gensollen, architect
1960, apartment building, Sainte-Marguerite, Marseille,
1963, apartment building, Saint-Gabriel, Marseille.
Associated files:
- Map of the 13th arrondissement of Marseille
- Documented Monograph Record
© Thierry Durousseau, 2004-2005