Maison La Roche

Maison La Roche is the earliest surviving realisation of Le Corbusier's idea of the promenade architecturale — the notion that a building should be experienced as a sequence of spatial events unfolding through movement rather than a series of static rooms. Built in 1923–1925 for Swiss banker Raoul La Roche, the house comprises two adjoined volumes: the more conventional Maison Jeanneret (designed for Le Corbusier's brother) and the more adventurous La Roche wing, which contains a grand two-storey gallery hall with a curved walkway suspended above it. This ramp — anticipating Villa Savoye's promenade by nearly a decade — carries you from the entrance up through the gallery and out to a roof terrace, space unfolding continuously rather than resolving into rooms. The building is modest in scale but richly detailed, with polychrome walls (Le Corbusier selected the colours), built-in furniture, and a relationship between interior and garden that feels genuinely modern. Purism paintings by Léger and Ozenfant hung here when La Roche lived in it; his collection, now dispersed, shaped the architecture. Since 1968 the building has housed the Fondation Le Corbusier, which maintains the archive and offers guided visits. The gallery is a small, dense space that rewards careful attention — as much a theoretical document as a house.