Rochefort (Charente-Maritime). Behind his modest facade, it is an extravagant interior that found all his chandelier. After thirteen years of closure, the Maison de Pierre Loti (1850-1923) reopened in June after a long-term site. Consolidation of the building, restoration, even reconstruction of the sets … “Our goal was to find the state of the house as it was on the death of Pierre Loti. He hadn’t really changed it from 1902, he had somehow reached his ideal ”explains the architect Elsa Ricaud (Sunmetron agency), in charge of project management. A real challenge for certain pieces, so far closed to the public, because their decorations had been dismantled or destroyed after the death of the writer. From now on, fifteen rooms (including five unpublished) are visited during a redesigned route to more clearly trace the successive developments made by Loti. Compulsive accumulator, the novelist and naval officer decorates his house in the smallest corners, transforms it into a setting for its travel memories. Orient sets adjoin pieces inspired by ancient times and family rooms that Loti has preserved by sentimentalism. This heterogeneous set can only be visited by reservation, with a gauge of ten people, established to preserve the house.
The Renaissance room of the Pierre Loti house.
© Julie Limont
It is precisely the fragility of the structure that had forced the city, owner of the house since 1969, to close it in 2012. During its lifetime, Loti brings a multitude of modifications which weaken the construction, not hesitating to remove floors and load -bearing walls to give life to its decorative desires. A century later, the observation is critical: the facade leans, the floors are sagging and the foundations are eaten away by the Xylophagous insects. The city therefore decides to launch a site in several phases, including the safety of the building such as the restoration of historic houses, adjacent buildings and collections. An operation at 14.7 million euros, which was partly funded by the State (up to 50 %), the region and the department.
The Chinese house of the Pierre Loti house.
© Julie Limont
From 2015, emergency work was carried out to stabilize the building with a large protection and shoring phase. Two years later, the effort focused on stabilization of the precious ceiling of the mosque – centerpiece of the house -, funded by the Bern mission. The XVIIth century polychrome woodwork, from a Syrian palace, was completely nibbled by the vrillettes and threatened to collapse. Many syringe injections then gave him his mass and solidity.
Then, in 2020, the structural work began: repair of electricity, resumption of architectural elements … very meticulous interventions, close to the investigation when it came to reconstruct the emptied parts of their decor. If it was impossible to recreate some of them, for lack of documentation (such as the kitchen or the peasant room), part of the Japanese pagoda and the Chinese room could be returned from archive photographs. “We had an important water damage in this Chinese room, which turned out to be an evil for a good!” By serving the coating, we found the traces of the cheekbones, then the original cinnabros red ”, explains Elsa Ricaud. The disappeared volume was therefore reconstructed while an impressive facsimile now replaces a lost imperial throne.
In parallel and as soon as the house is closed, an important project was carried out on the collections (which include more than 3,000 objects). Oriental weapons, Ottoman fabrics, stained glass windows in the Gothic room … “ A good thousand objects have been restored, mainly in workshops located everywhere in France, specifies Claude Stefani, curator of the Rochefort museums. What is complex is that in Loti eyes, everything was precious. So everything must be restored, including mediocre quality objects! »» In total, thirty-four trades will have been mobilized to restore the house its particular atmosphere.
The Mosque of the Pierre Loti house.
© Julie Limont
A heritage museum
Rochefort. In 1802, the maternal grandfather of Pierre Loti (born Julien Viaud) acquired a Rochelaise house, typical of the bourgeois house of the late 17th – early 18th centuries. The young Julien Viaud grew up in his walls, then bought the home from his mother in 1871, at the age of 21. He arranged a first oriental piece in 1877, but it was not until the 1880s that he left free rein to his decorator frenzy: transformation of the red living room, creation of a bee bedroom, a Japanese pagoda, a Gothic room … In 1895, he acquired a Beety house, n ° 139 rue Chanzy, and installs in turn, mosque (see Ill.) Blue lounge, Renaissance room and Chinese room (see ill.). The purchase of a second adjoining house, at n ° 143, is still expanding the house that Loti likes to decorate until his death in 1923. In 1969, his son Samuel sold the house to the city, which transformed it into a museum four years later. Classified as a historic monument since 1990, it is labeled “Maison des Illustres” in 2011.
