RESOLUTELY MODERN ARCHITECTURE

The cinema-dancing building was designed by architect Jean Fauny.

During the 1930s, new architectural techniques led to the use of reinforced concrete and glass. The use of geometry led to highly contemporary designs. These developments opened up new perspectives.

Architect Jean Fauny seized on these innovations to create the beautifully proportioned plans for this cinema-dancing venue, and to design the staircase tower in a style known as “prismatic-geometric”, which, lit from the inside, attracted spectators from afar.

The complex was inaugurated in 1932 but fully completed in 1935. Built by the contractor Prosper Richet, this remarkable structure used techniques that were still relatively new at the time, such as white rendered concrete and glass. On the cinema side, it resembles a large, immobile ship with its portholes and railings, while the dance hall tower is reminiscent of New York skyscrapers.

The bow-windows in the dance hall, on the side facade facing the garden, offer dancers the chance to cool off or take a rest.

The avant-garde effect is accentuated by the geometric lines, the terraced roof and the verticality of the “stair tower”. The prismatic glass facets, in art deco style, illuminate the interior to great effect.

This new aesthetic and technological research means that this complex can be classed as part of an architectural movement known as the “Modern Movement”.

This movement, which coincided with the development of seaside resorts in Brittany, moved away from the “neo-Breton” style that had been widely disseminated until then.

In its decorative branch, it can be found in a wide variety of forms.

The Seiz-Breur movement (1923-1947) is a prime example of this in Brittany. Created on the initiative of artists Jeanne Malivel and René-Yves Creston, it advocated modernist creation in reaction to the “Breton” clichés of the time. This new aesthetic, oriented towards the decorative arts, was to spread to furniture, textiles, engraving, ceramics and typography.

It is for this reason that the cinema-dancing has been listed in its entirety on the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments since November 1995. François Jeanneau, General Inspector of Historic Monuments, said of the building: “It is a construction in its own right, where the content is as important as the container”.