Located on the top floor of the Molitor building, designed at the limit of Paris and Boulogne-Billancourt in the 1930s by Le Corbusier (1887-1965) and his associate cousin Pierre Jeanneret, L’Atelier-Apartement in duplex of the architect had been entirely classified in 2017, with the exception of his furniture. It is now done: the furniture has been classified as a historic monument, the Ministry of Culture announced. The workshop-apartment in Le Corbusier, now owned by the Le Corbusier Foundation, the artist’s universal legatee, has been open to the public since 1991.
Often in concrete or fixed to the wall, the furniture is an integral part of the architecture of the place. “A Corbusian wardrobe for example, integrated into concrete in living spaces has therefore left its furniture status while giving itself both to see as motionless, furniture and non-furniture, architecture and sculpture” had written the architect Arthur Rüegg in his work Le Corbusier. Furniture and interiors 1905-1965 (2012).
The workshop-apartment in Le Corbusier on the 7th floor of the Molitor building (1934) in Paris.
© FLC / ADAGP Paris 2025
In 1928, Le Corbusier and the architect and designer Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) designed for the 240 m² apartment in steel tube furniture, such as the lounge chair and the great comfort chair. The room includes a metal wall bed restored in 2008, while the workshop includes rattan armchairs, metal chairs and an oval table. The living room houses a 1934 sofa and a marble table. On the lighting side, there is a projector lamp, a metal rod surmounted by a glass globe, as well as neon lights added after 1950. Among the classified accessories are also industrial objects, such as two sponge holders and a schoolgain from the Bon Marché (Paris).
The main interest of this classification lies less in the restoration constraints, which prohibit any intervention without authorization, than in the guarantee that these objects will remain on site. Protection thus covers 27 pieces of furniture whose conservation had been threatened in recent years. Certain elements, such as carpets, lamps or armchairs, are not on the list, having disappeared since the artist’s death in 1965.
