After completing her famous E-1027 (and falling out with Jean Badovici), Eileen Gray designed and built Tempe à Pailla between 1932 and 1934 above Menton in Castellar, not far from E-1027 (but away from the coast). The name, Tempe à Pailla, comes from a Provençal phrase meaning “time for a straw” or time for a rest after harvest).
Still in private ownership, the home is not available for touring, but one can gawk from the street (although parking is nearly non-existent!). Gray integrated Tempe à Pailla into the existing the hay barn at the location, perching her Modernism on top of local, stone vernacular, perhaps predating regional Modernism. Whereas E-1027 was a party house, Tempe à Pailla was more personal, more modest, and a bit more introverted.
Sutherland remained the property La Villa Blanche after adding an extension to the building, and the sign remains.
Ironically, the plaque here honors a later resident, the English painter Graham Sutherland, rather than (or in addition to) Ms. Gray.
No comments:
Post a Comment