E-1027

E-1027
E-1027 on the shore of Cape Martin.
E-1027 is located in France
E-1027
General information
Architectural styleModernism
Town or cityRoquebrune-Cap-Martin
CountryFrance
Coordinates43°45′36″N 7°27′47″E / 43.759875°N 7.463186111°E / 43.759875; 7.463186111
Design and construction
Architect(s)Eileen Gray

E-1027 is a modernist villa in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. It was designed and built from 1926-29 by the Irish architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray and the French/Romanian Architect Jean Badovici.[1] L-shaped and flat-roofed with floor-to-ceiling windows and a spiral stairway to the guest room, E-1027 was both open and compact.[2] This is considered to be Gray's first major work, making indistinct the border between architecture and decoration, and highly personalized to be in accord with the lifestyle of its intended occupants. The name of the house, E-1027, is a code of Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici, 'E' standing for Eileen, '10' Jean, '2' Badovici, '7' Gray. The encoded name was Eileen Gray's way of showing their relationship as lovers at the time when built.[3]

It is impossible to identify the exact individual contributions of Gray or Badovici to E-1027.[4] Gray also designed furniture for the house, including a tubular steel table which would enable her sister to eat breakfast in bed without leaving crumbs on sheets, due to an adjustable top that caught the crumbs.[4]

Gray and Badovici separated shortly after the completion of the house and Badovici inherited the house in 1932.[4] In 1938/9 Le Corbusier painted significant murals which survive.[5] Gray began working on a new house, Tempe à Pailla, in nearby Menton in 1931.[4] Tempe à Pailla was furnished by Gray with flexible furniture designed to save space.[4] Only a later house designed by Gray, Lou Pérou in Saint-Tropez, was fully architecturally realized by her.[4]

  1. ^ https://www.archdaily.com/902152/eileen-grey-le-corbusier-and-the-e-1027-house-a-tale-of-architecture-and-scandal
  2. ^ McCormick, Megan. "Architects' summer retreats". Architecture Today. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  3. ^ Rowan Moore (June 30, 2013). "Eileen Gray's E1027 – review". The Guardian. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Rawsthorne, Alice (24 February 2013). "Eileen Gray, Freed From Seclusion". The New York Times.
  5. ^ https://theshelfist.com/le-corbusier-eileen-gray-and-the-e1027-house-unveiling-the-architectural-controversy/