Fernand Pouillon (1912-1986)
Fernand Pouillon was born on May 14, 1912, in Cancon in the region of Lot-et-Garonne and died in the Château de Belcastel on July 24th, 1986. He grew up in Marseille, where he attended l’Ecole des Beaux-arts until he moved to Paris to study architecture from 1932-1934. Pouillon received his first architectural commission at the age of 22 in 1934 in Aix-en-Provence. In 1948 he gained national prominence through his reconstruction of the Vieux Port of Marseille, where he restored the ancient quayside buildings that had been destroyed by the Nazis. While working in Marseille, he worked alongside many Algerian immigrants, who came into the port seeking jobs in France.
Through his studies and early work, Pouillon developed a deep conviction about the importance of populist architecture. He consistently sought to bring high-quality, low-cost housing to the greatest number of people. France was in a period of reconstruction, still reeling after the destruction of World War II. Pouillon strove to be a part of the rebuilding effort. His beliefs were put to the test when he won a contract to build public housing. He declared that he could build 200 apartments in 200 days with a budget of 200 million francs. He kept his promise, gaining both fans and political enemies in the process.
In 1953 he was hired by the country of Algeria to repeat his performance by creating 1600 urban housing units in 365 days, while maintaining respect for local architectural style. Once again, the project was a great success, and it brought him work in Iran.
Pouillon returned to France to work for the prominent architecture firm of Auguste Perret. In 1961, as part of a major national effort, Pouillon was commissioned to build a group of low-cost apartment buildings on the outskirts of Paris. In order to realize his vision for the project, Pouillon acted as both its building contractor and its architect. At the time, it was illegal for architects to serve as contractors. Pouillon’s enemies in Paris brought his illegal actions under scrutiny, and he was sent to jail.
Determined to escape after eighteen months in prison, Pouillon staged a hunger strike and feigned sickness. He was moved to a minimum-security wing for treatment and allowed a visit by his wife, Vera and brother, who had a rope wrapped around his torso. During the visit, Vera gave him food for strength and his brother stuffed the rope under the mattress. Once night fell, Pouillon used the rope to climb out of a three-story window. With the help of the Sorbonne Network, a group of French nationals dedicated to Algerian independence, Pouillon escaped to Fiesole, Italy, and then to North Africa. The Sorbonne Network helped Pouillon compile a strong case to assert his innocence. Pouillon returned to France in 1963 to defend his actions in a sensational trial. The court ruled him innocent of his original crime, but sentenced him to a reduced penalty for escaping. Continuing his artistic efforts, Pouillon spent his days in prison writing a novel, The Savage Stones (Les Pierres Sauvages in French), which won a major French literary prize in 1964. The novel is a fictionalized account of the medieval construction of the Abbey of Thoronet by Bernard de Clairvaux.
Not surprisingly, Pouillon felt disenchanted with France and, once out of prison, decided to follow his friend Jacques Chevallier back to Algeria, where he devoted himself to helping the newly independent country develop hotels, tourist complexes, office buildings, post offices, and universities. He also finished his memoirs, published in 1968. Both his memoirs and The Savage Stones are still in print today.
Although pardoned in 1971 by Georges Pompidou, Pouillon remained in Algeria. From there, he opened Le Jardin de Flore, an art book publishing house in Paris that republished old works and sold them cheaply in the hope of bringing great literature to the greatest number of people.
Fernand Pouillon with his daughter Catherine
Pouillon returned to France in 1972 and began his search for a historic property to restore and call home. After discovering the Château de Belcastel, an 11th-century fortress in the Aveyron valley, he purchased the ruins in 1974 and hired ten Algerian master craftsmen to aid him in its reconstruction. Throughout the eight years he spent working on the château, Pouillon continued to work extensively in Algeria and France. Along with many hotels, villas, spas, harbors and universities in Algeria, some of Pouillon’s work during those years included a monastery in Provence for repatriated Algerian nuns (1976), a center for the Ministry of Culture near Versailles (1984), and the administrative subdivision for the Music Academy in Paris (1985). Pouillon also helped restore Le Colombier house in Belcastel in 1979.
Pouillon was awarded the Legion of Honor by Francois Mitterrand in 1985 to thank him for his architectural contributions to his country. Pouillon also posthumously received an award from Algeria for the whole of his work from 1964-1984. In 2012 the 100th Anniversary of his birth was proclaimed a day of National recognition by the French government.
In keeping with his egalitarian ideology, Pouillon requested that, at his death, his body be buried in the small cemetery of Belcastel in an unmarked grave. His wish was honored. He died in the Château de Belcastel on July 24th, 1986, and joined the ranks of generations of craftsmen who remain anonymous in their graves.
Restoration of the Château and Village
The Château de Belcastel was nominated by the French Ministry of Culture to be listed as an historic monument in 1928. When Fernand Pouillon first visited Belcastel in 1973, he fell in love with the abandoned ruin. Throughout his celebrated career, Pouillon had been searching for an extraordinary historical property to transform into the home of his dreams. When the architect came upon the Château de Belcastel, he knew instantly that it was the very property he had been seeking. Pouillon bought the château in 1974 for 150,000 new Francs, which is just over 20,000 Euros in today’s market. It would take him from 1974 to 1982 to complete the restoration. On July 6th, 1984, Pouillon officially invited the world to view his new home.
THE MATERIALS
To find stones for rebuilding the walls, Pouillon created a quarry in the mountain behind the castle where he collected shale. For the decorative masonry, the architect used limestone and Marcillac pink sandstone. He chose chestnut wood for the floorboards. Although Pouillon was determined to use as many original elements as he could, he incorporated modern materials for style and practicality. For instance, in recreating most of the 450 steps in the château, including the Great Stair, the stonemasons used concrete. Pouillon incorporated large glass casements to protect rooms and original ruins.
THE RESTORATION
After purchasing the ruins, Fernand Pouillon began the arduous task of restoring the Château de Belcastel to its former glory. He enlisted the help of ten Algerian master-craftsmen, with whom he had worked in Algeria. He paid their salaries and all the building costs from his own pocket.
In order to get a sense of what the château looked like prior to its ruin, Pouillon studied the remaining structure carefully and referenced the architecture of other castles of the same time period. He realized that he would have to decide which architectural form he would recreate, that of the original 11th century fortress or of the more elegant 15th century château. He also had the choice of reinventing the château into a meld of ancient and ultra-modern elements, as was popular in the 1970s. Pouillon’s ideas shifted as he researched the history of the property. In the Rodez library, Pouillon discovered a book containing drawings of the château’s interior before it became a ruin. These drawings provided him with the correct layout of many of the rooms. Fascinated with the medieval architecture, he resolved to integrate modern materials with elements drawn from the 11th century and 15th century designs.
When Pouillon began his restoration, the castle was a pile of rubble. There were large oak trees growing out of the Keep and the ruins of some of the rooms. What had once been grand windows were now vast holes in crumbling walls. According to his wife, Vera, the biggest challenge for Pouillon was keeping the surviving walls upright. He did so by allowing the overgrown ivy to remain, for the foliage was literally holding up the walls.
Pouillon decided that he and his team of stonemasons and glaziers would use only medieval building techniques during the restoration. Rejecting cranes and modern machinery and braving the forty-meter drop of the northern face, the architect and his intrepid crew manually hoisted the enormous beams, arches, and chimneys into place as they rebuilt the castle stone by stone, pane by pane.
Pouillon restored many parts of the castle to their original state; the moat, drawbridge, and inner gateway were all painstakingly recreated. It would take more than eight years for Pouillon and his team to resurrect the piles of stones into a majestic château, which would serve as both a livable home and a monument to the past.
The Château de Belcastel remained the private residence of Fernand Pouillon until he died in Belcastel on July 24, 1986. In 2005, two Americans gallerists from New York purchased the château and opened it to the public as both a gallery and a historical monument. Since then, they embellished the interior with medieval artifacts and created art galleries within the château, while at the same time, allowing the medieval fortress and remarkable architecture to remain undisturbed.
Owner Heidi Leigh’s intention to promote art and culture has been realized over the years in this unique venue through exhibitions of art and sculpture, concerts and master classes. In 2017, together with family and friends of the renowned architect Fernand Pouillon, she helped to create an association for the Heritage of Fernand Pouillon for the purpose of keeping his legacy alive through creative projects that celebrate the relationship between art and architecture. That same year she was honored by the French Ministry of Culture with the title Chevalier of Arts and Letters.
BELCASTEL VILLAGE
After restoring the château to its former glory, Fernand Pouillon decided to help the villagers to renovate the village of Belcastel as well, so that it might reflect the castle’s recovered elegance. Many village homes lay in ruin, with collapsed roofs and dilapidated walls. The acclaimed architect worked together with the mayor of Belcastel to realize this ambitious project, focusing on six particularly neglected houses, which still stand in the heart of the village today. Given that the majority of these houses were in an even worse condition than the château had been, Pouillon’s experience reconstructing villages, gained during his employment as one of the French government’s “architectes reconstructeurs” after the Second World War, was essential.
Pouillon worked together with the inhabitants of the village to help revive Belcastel as he had revived the château before it, and was warmly welcomed among them. He drew architectural plans to convey his idea of a new Belcastel, remaining true to the village’s original style and design. Pouillon’s renovation gave the people of Belcastel a renewed sense of pride in their home, and created a visible architectural harmony between the village and the castle that surmounts it.
Unfortunately, Pouillon died before the restoration of the village was completed, but the architects and builders who continued his legacy in Belcastel did so using the ideas and plans Pouillon himself had developed. The renovation program continued with the Roc d’Anglars, an ancient fort from the 5th century located just outside Belcastel that was restored in 1988, two years after Pouillon’s death.
Today, Belcastel is a lively and charming village, renowned for its authentic charm, and host to night markets and a popular annual fête with fireworks set off with the chateau as a backdrop. The village is home to approximately 30 permanent residents and 250 more throughout the surrounding area. Thanks to Pouillon’s extensive restorations, Belcastel is known today as a historic landmark and a popular destination for tourists and travellers in the Aveyron. The village’s designation as one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France stands as a testament to an exceptional architect whose work in Belcastel made this distinguished classification possible.