The Maison de Verre (literally "House of Glass") is a rarely seen modernist masterpiece in the center of Paris. Here, for the first time, is the inside story of its birth and character.
In 1927 Annie and Jean Dalsace acquired an eighteenth-century town house and commissioned their friend, the architect and designer Pierre Chareau, to turn it into a modern dwelling. What he did
was without precedent. Underpinning the top story, he removed everything beneath it, replaced the walls with translucent glass bricks, installed remotely controlled swiveling windows and
divided the interior by perforated metal screens that rotate or slide silently. He built galleried balconies and open-topped staircases that permit the eye to rove freely through the space and
to appreciate works of art collected by the modern-spirited Annie Dalsace, and the unique collection of furniture designed by the architect, some covered with tapestry by the artist Jean
Lurcat.
The text is by Dominique Vellay, granddaughter of the original clients, who has known the house ever since her childhood, and makes us experience it at first hand. The photographs are by the
internationally renowned Francois Halard.
