Léon Le Bel: Grasse's 'go-to' architect
- Tom Richardson
- Apr 13, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 30
High above Grasse's old town on the avenue Yves Emmanuel Baudouin, there's an extraordinary building which looks rather as if it's escaped from renaissance Tuscany.
Known as the Villa Clara, it's a mansion built for one of Grasse's millionnaire perfumiers on the same site as his factory after the 'industrial revolution' of steam distillation and solvent extraction sent the perfume business, financially speaking, into orbit.
The company originated on another site still to be seen in the old town - Hugues Aîné, on the rue Mirabeau. It’s almost impossible to get a decent photograph of its façade because of its location, but it’s well worth seeing. The odd looking cone just behind the facade is the base of its demolished chimney and the facade itself shows an alambic (distilling vessel) in profile.
The site was so cramped that it was impossible to run profitably with the new technology of the time and so Hughes’ successors acquired a small agricultural area, the domaine de la Sabrane, above the town. Between 1901 and the outbreak of war they had a range of factory buildings constructed there. In 1917, the business came under the control of its chemist, Eugène Charabot, and he instructed the ‘go to’ perfumery architect of the day, Léon Le Bel, not only to expand the factory construction but to build a villa for him and his family on the site.
The Charabot company itself became insolvent in 1936. After various changes of ownership it eventually came under the control of Robertet, Grasse’s second largest locally owned perfume company, with its head office on av Sidi-Brahim. Le Bel's buildings are still in use for laboratory, management and commercial functions, although the site is not open to the public.
But Villa Clara still stands – a tribute to the ambition and self-esteem of Grasse’s perfumiers.
A prolific factory architect
Léon Le Bel (1883-1968) was in his time undoubtedly Grasse’s leading architect. Some of his other work on perfume factories can still be seen.
The most prominent is the Molinard site on bd Victor Hugo. He re-designed the south wing, with its tower in the corner, for the Bénard family, which is still running it four generations later. He also worked on the Bertrand Freres site on av Font-Laugiere, which is now apartments, and on the Lautier Fils factory which was next door to it.
Much less visible today are the abandoned Biolandes factory on Le Plan, (see my blog here) where he designed the first phase of the development, and Robertet’s Sidi-Brahim complex, where he designed an extraction facility. Gone altogether is his C.A.L. site, which was on the main av Lattre de Tassigny road into Grasse in the St Claude quarter and was replaced by a retirement village in the 1980s. Also replaced, in this case by apartments, was another site which he contributed to, Méro et Boyveau, which was directly opposite Molinard.
But not just perfume buildings…
Le Bel seems to have been the answer whenever an architect was needed in Grasse during the 1920s and1930s. As well as the Villa Clara, he re-designed another spectacular mansion – Villa Norah, which stands out in the townscape west of the town from its position on avenue Francis de Croisset.
Originally built for an English family in 1897, the owner of the Bernard Freres perfumery had it re-constructed to Le Bel’s specifications in 1923. Today it's an events venue and available for vacation rentals.
Another of his villas was the Bastide Saint Francois. But no sooner was it completed than a new owner, Grant B Schley Jr, had it replaced with one designed by Jacques Couëlle.
Le Bel designed the monument to Leon Chiris on bd Fragonard (see my blog here) and also Grasse’s war memorial, on the Petit Puy below the main entrance to the cathedral. This was the subject of great controversy. Grasse’s mayor after the Great War wanted to place the memorial elsewhere, but a new mayor, Dr Perrimond, had the Petit Puy remodelled to accommodate Le Bel’s design. It appears that the townsfolk all agreed that the square had been disfigured. Dr Perrimond was forced to resign!
Even a bank…
If you walk past the several banks on bd Jeu de Ballon, perhaps the tower of the Marseillaise de Credit at number 4 looks rather like the one at Molinard? It’s not a coincidence!
But not just in Grasse
Leon Le Bel somehow found the time to design several buildings in Cannes, although there he appears to have worked with other architects. Villa Trianette on the Croisette stands out today because it is different from the more modern blocks next door, but he is credited with other villas on bd Montfleury, bd Métropole and in Super-Cannes.
Possibly the most spectacular was the Château Thorenc (also known as Château d’Oxford), which he designed alongside an eminent designer/decorator, Louis Süe. The gardens from his time are still there, but the building, which had been owned since 1937 by the titular Emperor of Vietnam, was demolished in 1968.
I have not been able to find anything about his practice, but with all technical drawings of the time having to be hand-made, one presumes that Le Bel had quite an army of assistants!
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