On Saturday we headed up to Tours to do the Art Deco architecture walking tour. Well,we love Art Deco and we like walking so why not? We already knew many of the buildings but were hoping to learn of a few more. We met with our fellow walkers outside No 61, rue du Rempart, not the prettiest building in the city but our French guide found a great deal to tell us about it plus give a general introduction to the Art Deco period. Our only problem was that we stood listening in freezing conditions and the thought of this being repeated as we walked our route was, to say the least, a bit demoralising.
We then moved down to No 48 which was uninspiring ...
and then a little further down the road the interesting garage (L. Amblard) by architect Victor Gascthe.
Then on to No 21 which is by the architect Eugène Devernois which was much more interesting but obviously meant more information had to be imparted...brrrr!
We then were taken along to view another of his designs, the facade of the Printemps store at No 24, rue de Bordeaux.
Then it was around the corner to the Grand Hotel, designed by architect Maurice Boille.
We were delighted here when our guide spoke to the management who allowed us inside the foyer to hear about its history and check out the interior design work,which is stunning and is the work of Pierre Chareau an arcliect/designer. We were also delighted to be out of the cold!
We were then taken into the Hotel de Ville for a bit of history from this period.We then went along to view the facade of Tours' Central Post Office (1, boulevard Béranger) before heading over to Rue George Sand.
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On the corner of Rue Victor Hugo and Rue George Sand is a former theatre and cinema as you can see from this image from 1963 much of the facade's decorative elements have been lost to time.
Across the street is a building that the Gestapo occupied during the Second World War. The site now houses the headquarters of insurance companies.
The city of Tours has many fine Art Deco buildings,around 30, some more interesting than we saw on this tour.
Our favourite buildings,which we didn't get to see, are however from the Art Nouveau period (built between 1907 and 1910) but definitely a pre-curser to the Art Deco style.They occupy 42-50 bis rue Jules-Charpentier in the city.
If you wanted to seek out these and some of the other fine buildings of the city I suggest you pick up the brochure 'Focus Art Déco Tours' if available and do it yourself,much as our French guide was well informed and enthusiastic, trying to concentrate on the French was difficult for Pauline and impossible for me under the conditions.It would also mean that you could miss out the rather unimpressive first example with its dirty facade and upvc windows!
This is pretty much why we avoid guided tours of any kind!
ReplyDeleteBeing stuck in one place listening to interminable detail when it is freezing cold (or hot) and we can barely keep up with the guide is not that much fun. It has happened to us so often that we now avoid guided tours unless we can be sure there is a means of escape!