Le Corbusier's Two Parisian Houses, Ten Years On from UNESCO

On 17 July 2016, seventeen works by Le Corbusier across seven countries entered the UNESCO World Heritage list under a single heading: "The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement". Two of them are in Paris, fifteen minutes apart, and they open during Design Week.

Maison La Roche

Built between 1923 and 1925 with Pierre Jeanneret for the banker and collector Raoul La Roche, at the far end of a cul-de-sac in the 16th arrondissement. It is the built manifesto of Purism: pilotis, free façade, ribbon window, roof terrace, open plan — the five points of modern architecture, set down two years later, are all already here. The ramped picture gallery, conceived to hang a Cubist collection, remains the most striking room in the house. Listed as a monument historique in 1996.

The Appartement-Atelier

At 24 rue Nungesser-et-Coli, Le Corbusier built himself an apartment at the top of a building he had designed himself, between 1931 and 1934. He lived and worked there until his death in 1965. It is a more intimate place than La Roche and, in many ways, more instructive: here you see how the architect inhabited his own principles, with the brick vaults, the stone wall left rough and the painting studio he occupied every morning.

What you are looking at, without knowing it

The furniture designed by Le Corbusier with Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret between 1928 and 1929 — the LC4 adjustable chaise longue, the Grand Confort LC2 and LC3 armchairs, the LC7 swivel chair — has been produced exclusively by Cassina since 1964. It is also, very probably, the most copied furniture in the history of design: reproductions circulate everywhere, often with no mention of the maker, sometimes at a tenth of the price.

It is a subject we cover all year round at Beyit, and the Fondation is its legitimate source: it holds the moral rights to the work. Seeing the pieces where they were conceived, in the volumes for which they were drawn, remains the best schooling for telling an authorised edition from a copy afterwards.

Getting there

Maison La Roche — 8 square du Docteur Blanche, 75016 Paris. Opens at 10 a.m.
Appartement-Atelier — 24 rue Nungesser-et-Coli, 75016 Paris. Opens at 1 p.m.
During Paris Design Week, 10 to 19 September 2026.

The Beyit gesture: photograph a piece inside the house, scan it — the tool tells you who makes it today, at what price, and what is merely an imitation.