Alvar Aalto's Maison Louis Carré near Paris opens to public today

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Maison Louis Carré near Paris, designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto at the end of the 1950s, is being officially opened to the public today - Wednesday.
      Aalto designed the house for the French art dealer and collector Louis Carré and his wife Olga, and it was completed in 1959. Aalto’s spouse Elissa Aalto also contributed extensively to the design.
      This masterpiece of modern architecture is Aalto’s only remaining building in France, and one of his most remarkable private villas.
     
"This is an integrated work of art, combining buildings, garden, furniture, and interior design, all implemented entirely according to Aalto’s design", enthused architect Hanni Sippo from the Alvar Aalto Museum Architectural Heritage on Tuesday prior to the official opening.
      After Louis Carré’s death in 1977, this home of art and culture went to his widow, who lived there until she passed away in 2002. It has thus always been in private ownership and has remarkably preserved most of Aalto‘s interior fittings, furniture, lamps, and other furnishings.
     
In 2006 the Finnish Cultural Foundation bought the house for EUR 1.5 million and it is now managed by the Association Alvar Aalto en France, which is restoring the property.
      Maison Louis Carré will be open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 1.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. The house will also host seminars and meetings on architecture and design.
     
"The huge interest awakened by the house has come as a surprise to everybody. Apparently Aalto is really making a posthumous breakthrough in France", noted Markku Lahti, the director of the Alvar Aalto Foundation.
      "The results will have a lasting influence on cultural exchange and even business, in the form of furniture sales", Lahti concluded.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish Cultural Foundation is to buy Maison Carré in France (28.2.2006)

Links:
  Alvar Aalto
  Press release 31.7.2007: Maison Louis Carré will be open to the public from August
  Website for Maison Louis Carré
  Finnish Cultural Foundation

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