The Marvellous Maison Marrou...

Traipsing through the train station at Rouen after a day’s work meeting, I quickly went outside, hoping – naively and of course fruitlessly – that I would catch a glimpse of the cathedral. In my disappointment, I glanced around looking for some point of interest and was amazed to see the most incredible building just on the square outside. Fittingly, as it turned out, all that I initially noticed was the most beautiful decorative ‘crest’ on the roof and that alone was enough to draw me in.

Standing in front of this impressive maison bourgeoise, I was struck by its great beauty and equally by its alarmingly sorry state of neglect and apparent abandon. The façade, that towers over the pavement from behind a vast monumental gate and railings, is a strange ensemble of intricate woodwork, wrought iron and lead. Each part of the whole is decorated with statues and carefully worked metal and wood that embellish the surface, frame the windows and form the balcony. On first sight, it is difficult to date this building, with the multitude of historic architectural features that have been incorporated into what is presumably a 19th century structure.

The presence of these rather quirky details, the dark, sober effect of the wood and metalwork, along with the sheer height of the building – with its vast roof with wrought iron ‘crested’ ridge – give it the air of an architectural folly, especially since it appears tall, with rather disproportionally large windows (I thought) but apparently not very great in depth. I should say that its actual size was hard to determine as the back to the house was hidden by another structure, or so it seemed when I went in the street behind. Anyway, in its present condition, there is no sign whatsoever to indicate what this house represents, for what purpose it was built, nor can we know to whom it belonged or what their intention was.

Observing the wood and iron that has been overexposed to inclement, unforgiving weather, you can only feel sadness and frustration that such beauty should be left worn and whitened or rusted by sun and rain. The door was tantalizingly left ajar and on closer inspection, I could make out the regular tap, tap, tapping noises of some workman or other, busy inside, although there was no sign mentioning which company had been taken on to perform work there. I was not sure if I found this mysterious presence to be a positive sign or not for the long-term protection and therefore prosperity of the house, and am even less so now…

Once back from my fleeting trip to Rouen, it did not take long to find out the history of the building, nor to feel a certain uneasiness about its future – or rather a future worthy of its past. In fact, this was the imposing home of the leading 19th century ironsmith, Ferdinand Marrou (1836-1917), and was quite literally a work to showcase all his skills combined to the visitors coming to and from Rouen via the railway station.

His mastery of the various disciplines and ability to reference different periods in art were clearly – and cleverly – displayed in the building that would bear his name; La Maison Marrou. He designed the large house of 290 m2 himself, with the final work finished in 1890.

He wished to reflect the worldly success and grand reputation he had earned from his participation in the restoration and embellishment of the great monuments of Rouen, following the economic growth of the city and subsequent drive to highlight its cultural heritage.

A rouennais architect drew up the plan of the interior of the building, and other specialized craftsmen worked on its frame, the woodwork and stained-glass windows, whilst a sculptor produced the decorative statues. As a symbol of his art, and maybe a sign that he was an artist above all else, Marrou included the figures of two ironworkers above the doorway to his home.

Although not a native of Normandy, it was in Rouen that Marrou gained great acclaim in the years following his arrival there in 1863. His early life was spent in the Hautes-Alpes, but after the death of his mother when he was but 7, he left school and was apprenticed to a tinsmith (un ferblantier), working in other cities over the years as he turned to architectural ornamentation as his main art.

Such was his skill that he was soon noticed and commissioned to carry out major works. It was indeed Marrou who created the four steeples of the Notre-Dame cathedral (each of these being 27m in height and weighing 27 tonnes); the bell tower of the Saint-Romain church; the roof finials of the Gros-Horloge and the Palais de Justice, and the Jeanne-d'Arc tower in Rouen.

Common to all his work are the twisted, intertwined forms of the plant world that he observed in the drawings he based on his herbarium, so that his art is just as in harmony in architecture from centuries past as it was with the contemporary art nouveau. Near to the Maison Marrou, was the Atelier Marrou, set up in 1902 but after the death of Ferdinand Marrou in 1917, the beautiful façade fronted a printer’s and then in 2002 – a hundred years after its construction, the building became a tearoom; Dame Cakes.

As for Maison Marrou, after 1917 it changed hands and purpose several times – initially from a jeweller’s home, to a restaurant in the Second World War and then it was sold to the Caisse Autonome Artisanale d'Assurance Vieillesse de Haute-Normandie. From 1984, the building was occupied by the Centre de Documentation du Patrimoine de la Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles de Haute-Normandie and was used to keep archive material.

In 2021, it held an exhibition to celebrate the bicentenary of Gustave Flaubert’s birth - Madame rêve en Bovary. I would have loved to have seen this, not simply for the literary references but for the opportunity to visit this incredible house, whose beautiful interiors bore features that were classified in 1975. I trust this status will protect Maison Marrou now and in the immediate future but I do have too much faith… The house was sold by the State via auction in September 2024 at a starting price of 350 000 euros.

Although the regional director of Finances declared that the Maison Marrou would not be sold off merely to the highest bidder, but to persons with a project in line with the spirit of the building, I find that hard to believe. The fact that no clear care is being taken of this marvellous place is worrying, starting with any visible notification that the site is fully protected at the present moment, on every level, as it remains empty. What would happen if some rubbish bin were set alight by the façade? Or if vandals broke in? It will presumably take months or years to restore and modify the building to its future use, whatever that may be. After 80 years’ use as office space, the neglected Maison Marrou is not adapted to home life. How ironic it that?