Gironde’s seaside architecture

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In 1862, just at the time when sea-bathing was becoming fashionable, the Péreire brothers, a pair of local financiers born in Arcachon and owners of the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Midi (Southern Railway Company), purchased the 400 hectares of the “mountain” (dune) of Arcachon. They built a casino on the land, along with sumptuous villas, with a view to attracting a wealthy French and European clientele. Arcachon’s Ville d’Hiver (Winter Town,) was born.

CDT 33 - Bernard Lamarque

The “Moorish” casino may no longer exist, but the extravagant villas – here a gothic manor-house, there a neo-colonial style house – with their flamboyant names (Faust, Tolédo, Alexandre Dumas, Teresa, Bougainville...) are still standing, protected from the Atlantic winds by a screen of greenery.

The seaside resort of Soulac-sur-Mer is Arcachon’s little sister, a huddle of some 500 white stone and red brick villas decorated with wooden gables. The hundred or so early 20^th -century villas in Lacanau-Océan boast a range of architectural styles: the resort’s promoters put a range of standardised houses on sale, along with a catalogue of ornamentation from which customers could make their choice.

Soulac-sur-Mer Tourist Office- +33 5 56 09 86 61 - www.soulac.com

Lacanau Tourist Office - +33 5 56 03 21 01 - www.medococean.com

Guy Roux aime Soulac-sur-Mer.