Hossegor - Office de Tourisme

"Basco landaise" architecture

In the inter-war period, splendid villas were built all over Hossegor, on the seafront, by the lake, along the golf course... The seaside resort is distinguished by a unity and an originality of style completely new. A mixture of Art Deco and sometimes Hispanic influences, the "Basco Landaise" house is a sign of the town's identity.

Appearing after the great wave of water cities and seaside resorts, Hossegor inherited a certain number of their characteristics, but very quickly became the laboratory of visionary architects who, by reconciling modern techniques and regionalist inspiration, invented a new style.

Of Labourdine type with a Landes influence, these houses, which can be seen in the Basque countryside, were transposed and adapted to the lifestyle of a seaside town. This unequal synthesis gave rise to the "Basco Landaise" style, illustrated by a host of remarkable architects such as Henri Godbarge, Louis Lagrange, Louis and Benjamin Gomez, Léon Cuzol, Jean Prunetti, Albert Pomade... with whom Alfred Eluère (promoter and then mayor of the resort) surrounded himself to build his park city. There is no doubt, said Maxime Leroy in the preface of Villas d'Hossegor, (1933), Hossegor owes its second success to the architects, the first being the writers established in this place precisely around 1900

The "Basco Landais" style"

Characteristic of the resort, the "Basco Landaise" villa is generally located in a large park. The house has the shape of a parallelepiped like in the Basque houses of Labourdine. The base is made of stone masonry topped by a wall covered with white plaster. The attic is topped by an overhanging roof with coloured beams, often connected with decorative bricks arranged in "fern leaves" of Landes influence. There are often large openings, loggias and sunny terraces. Some villas have magnificent bas-reliefs or stained glass windows.

To be discovered

The golf district

The golf district is home to many architectural gems. Between 1930 and 1935, sumptuous villas were built, which are now listed. You can discover them along the Avenue du Golf, for example.

To be discovered

The Sporting-Casino

The Sporting-Casino, located on the edge of the canal at the beginning of Avenue Maurice Martin, is also very representative of the "Basco Landais" style. This grandiose building, built between 1927 and 1931, is the work of the architects Henri Godbarge and the Gomez brothers. On the main façade and on the north gable, you can admire bas-reliefs by the sculptor Lucien Danglade. Listed in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments, this place remains today a high place associating sports and traditional casino activities (games, receptions...).

To be discovered

The discovery of the sea front and the "Place des Landais"

This listed site is one of the most prestigious seafronts in France. Its urbanization in the years 1928-1931 is considered as unprecedented. Indeed, probably after a competition or exchange of proposals in which the architects Henri Godbarge, Robert Maurice and Paul Chevenot took part, the brothers Louis and Benjamin Gomez "thought up" a group of perfectly aligned semi-detached villas.

To be discovered

The canal tour

Tour of the canal, between nature and architecture 2,9km

Sporting represents a successful version of the "Basco Landais" application

Henri Godbarge, the theorist of the Basco Landais style, created the Hôtel du Lac and the Sporting Casino in collaboration with the Gomez brothers. The Sporting Casino, now a listed building, is a perfect example of the Basco Landais style applied to large buildings. The observation is the same for the clubhouse, former caretaker's lodge of the golf entrusted to the Gomez brothers, for which the pavilion of arts carried out for the regionalist fortnight of Hossegor of 1927 was reassembled.

Around four hundred villas were built in the inter-war period, all following the same architectural logic. La Chartreuse, Primerose, Aguilera, Maya, Adishatz, Le Repos, Les Chênes-Lièges, Romance... these are above all holiday homes, with terraces and loggias, nestled in the middle of a park.

Open-plan summer villas look out over the sea, whereas winter villas are closed off from the gardens. The bay windows let in the sun and allow the eye to look outwards.

The service rooms, cellars and the driver's room are located in the basement and the basement and first floor are reserved for reception and living rooms. Balconies, high galleries and rotundas make it possible to take advantage of the mild climate. While attenuating the volumes tormented by the complexity of the distributions, the architects rounded off the curves and referred more to the examples of French or Italian classicism than to those of the Anglo-Saxon picturesque. Some introduced Hispanic references, borrowed from Mudejar art and the Spanish Renaissance.

The architecture of the villas is in perfect harmony with the neo-classical or Art Deco aesthetics chosen for the interior design of the casino and certain hotels.

As for the facades, they are marked by the identity of the Gascon and Landes regions. Wooden sides, white and plastered facades, projecting walls, corbelling, loggias, staircases and red bricks are used to ingeniously recreate a very diverse reality.