
The restoration of a modern icon: Villa Stein-de Monzie or
‘Les Terrasses’ Clients: the current homeowners of 'Les Terrasses’
The project management team: Agence: Pierre-Antoine Gatier, Paris
M. Pierre-Antoine Gatier, chief architect of historic monuments
Clients: the homeowners—the Villa was divided into flats in 1960
Located in the town of Vaucresson (then, Garches) in the Hauts-de-Seine department, the Villa Stein-de Monzie was built between 1926 and 1928, by the architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, on the initiative of Michael Stein, the brother of Gertrude Stein, and his wife Sarah, an American family of modern art collectors, and Gabrielle de Monzie, daughter of a wealthy banker and wife of Count Anatole de Monzie.
Villa Stein-de Monzie project continuation
2014: an invitation from M. Pierre-Antoine Gatier to look at the ‘evidence’—the original intention: Le Corbusier's ‘poetics’ and the ‘Five Points of Architecture’ that were lost or made invisible over time, due to interior interventions and significant deterioration of the building envelope, including the facades and terraces.
2014–2016: The outcomes and brochure—2nd edition:
The primary intention of the brochure created by NYIT architecture students was to assist the homeowners: with a better and closer read into Le Corbusier's intentions; to bring attention to the Villa's original design; and to highlight certain design intentions that had been lost, but could be reintroduced during the conservation and restoration of the Villa.
The dynamic for understanding and dialogue was achieved through interactive sessions at the Villa with the homeowners, with architect Gatier's participation.
Among the design elements highlighted for consideration and reintroduction:
1) The original modular window system, which had been replaced with standard aluminum windows without the harmonics of the modular system, a device Le Corbusier used to weave the entire building envelope into a harmonic whole.
Budget:
CLOSE READS CONSULTANCY
Judith DiMaio Architect FAIA RIBA
2) The Gatehouse canopy, or Le Corbusier's foreground gesture. The crucial lead up to the Villa beyond. The missing canopy is a critical omission demanding a rebirth.
Budget: Canopy and Gatehouse 160.000 € HT (provisional value 2023)
Design and construction for Michael and Sarah Stein and Gabrielle de Monzie
Departure of the Steins and de Monzie to the US—sold to Norwegian banker, Steen
Minor work carried out by the Steens with Le Corbusier
Departure of the Steens and gradual abandonment of the Villa
Division of the villa into condominium apartments
Classified as a 'monument historique'
Historic monument inscription of the facades and the roofs of the villa and caretaker’s house
New and Ongoing Ventures—2023

What is Meant by 'The Art of Looking?'
.....One moment is enough if the concentration is absolute..... Bernard Berenson












Ongoing Research Project
1926—1928
1935
1936—1938
1957
1960
1975
2017
Canopy
Brochure 2nd edition, NYIT © Judith DiMaio
Original wood frame, modular window system with exterior shading devices midway down
Original system with shading devices in up position
Modified system: aluminum, vertical windows without horizontal modulation
Detail, modified system
Original color of window frame
Original drawing, window details
Sample pages from the Brochure 1st edition: © Judith DiMaio
Top: details of 1927—click image to see larger
Bottom: proposed details—click image to see larger
Full size mockup, NYIT before dark wood stain
Villa Stein-de Monzie, 1928
Page from the Brochure 2nd edition: gatehouse plan and canopy—click image to see larger
Transparent gatehouse model with canopy, NYIT
Gate house today with missing canopy
Site plan with the penthouse and roof terrace plan of the Villa and Gatehouse and canopy