Seaside villas

Sea bathing is a relatively recent phenomenon. Before the 19th century, bathing in the sea hardly seems to have been practised, except in exceptional cases when certain doctors prescribed it in an attempt to alleviate or cure ailments that were resistant to the usual medication. If Madame de Sévigné is to be believed, in the 17th century, seabaths were considered to be effective against rage of body and mind. Initially prescribed for its therapeutic virtues, the cure is not at all fun for patients! Baths are generally taken in autumn or winter in water no higher than 10°C, preferably in the morning on an empty stomach. The patient is placed in the hands of a bather who plunges him or her under the water just as the wave breaks, to let the patient experience the thrill of drowning. This is the blade bath… Nothing like it for tightening the pores and getting the blood flowing! The phenomenon of sea bathing for pleasure appeared and grew with the advent of the railroads. The French railway network developed in the second half of the 19th century. In 1870, the Paris-Granville train line was created, linking the two towns in “just” 9 hours. In 1908, the so-called “pleasure trains” were created, linking Granville, Avranches and Sourdeval, via Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. From the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th, hotels and casinos were built, as well as numerous seaside villas for the wealthy. This was the golden age of seaside villas in the communes of Donville-les-Bains, Granville, Saint-Pair-sur-Mer, Jullouville and Carolles, from north to south of the Destination.

Today,seaside activities are a major factor in the appeal of Granville Terre et Mer as a tourist destination. Every year, visitors from all over France and the world flock to the Destination to enjoy its fine sandy beaches and take a dip in the waters of the English Channel. Sea bathing has a long history, however, and was once recommended by leading French physicians for its therapeutic virtues. By the end of the 18th century, local chronicles attest to a growing number of locals – be they from Granvillais, Donvillais or Saint-Pairais – soaking their feet or even their entire bodies in the sea. This new medical approach, which originated in England (Brighton residents were already bathing in the mid-18th century), gradually gained ground, and the first French therapeutic sea bathing establishments appeared in the 1820s. In Granville, the first “Salon de bains” was built in 1826. Although modest at the time, this small building is today considered one of the precursors of the seaside architectural boom that was to affect the Channel coast.

From the 1830s onwards, sea bathing became increasingly regulated. Both from a medical point of view, with the writing and publication of scientific works and guides to the proper therapeutic practice of sea bathing. But also from a legislative point of view, since in 1837, Granville town council created a Sea Bathing Police, imposing strict rules on bathers’ practices. It has to be said that bathing, originally seen as a medicinal cure, gradually developed within French society to the point of becoming a pleasure, a fashionable activity that had to be followed. As a result, many coastal towns saw a demographic surge during the summer months, with visitors from a wide variety of backgrounds. In Granville, the summer months, once dreary and lacking in activity due to the absence of the Newfoundlanders, suddenly became moments of life and brought a boost to the economy. The arrival of the train in 1870 also marked a turning point in the town’s activity: suddenly, a whole new section of the French population had access to the seaside world and the pleasures of sea bathing.

To accommodate these new arrivals, modern buildings sprang up: hotels, theaters and casinos sprang up like mushrooms. Around Granville beach, in particular, new buildings were erected for the comfort of visitors and the seaside business. Large hotels such as the Normandy and the Hôtel des Bains, borrowing architectural features from the English seaside style; a casino, first ephemeral then permanent, presented in its definitive form fromin its definitive form of 1911, featuring art-deco architecture; and above all, a long seawall, designed for the pleasure of seaside strolling, with a curious name to say the least: the “Plat-Gousset” promenade. While some yachtsmen took advantage of the accommodation offered by local hotel owners, others preferred to invest in building their own homes, with a view to having a pied-à-terre in Granville or one of the neighboring towns. This was the start of a new trend in seaside villas, where everyone was free to draw inspiration from past and present architectural styles to build their own little piece of paradise. In Granville, for example, small houses were built on the cliffs overlooking the future Plat-Gousset beach, with a mixture of Anglo-French features. And in the Haute Ville, one house in particular stands out from the rest: the Maison du Guet, a sort of medieval architectural melting pot built in 1908, and now considered by many to be a symbol of Granvillian architecture. And yet it’s the only one to feature such a unique style.

Around Granville, the coastal communities also saw changes in their buildings. In Donville, renamed Donville-les-Bains in 1907 in response to the local craze for seaside resorts, a hotel was built to the north of the beach, which was itself laid out to accommodate a long promenade. And in Saint-Pair-sur-Mer, a new district began to develop in the mid-19th century, with small villas in a whimsical, polychrome style more reminiscent of the wooden chalets of Switzerland or Franche-Comté than the typical houses of Normandy. This new Saint-Pair is a must-see for anyone wishing to discover the little village today: The “Chalet des Pins” and the “Belvédère” in rue de Scissy are just two of the many examples of this seaside villa trend.

Jullouville, finally, is a special case in the region, since it was created from scratch, exclusively to welcome and support pleasure boaters. Its history began in 1876, when a local developer bought 40 hectares of dune land. The developer,Armand Jullou, planned to build a brand-new seaside resort. First, a hotel was built, then three lanes were constructed from the hotel: like a church in a small French village, the hotel became the meeting point for the future resort. Gradually, the land was resold, and villas began to spring up on either side of the hotel. Most of these houses blend local materials, such as schist or granite, with rarer elements, like wood or brick. Indeed, each owner seeks to distinguish himself from the others through his building, even going so far as to call on renowned architects to draw up the plans. Despite some financial problems encountered by Armand Jullou, who was obliged to entrust his project to the new owners of the plots he sold, the resort continued to develop in the years that followed. A major boost came in 1908 with the arrival of the ” little train of the coast ” linking Granville to Sourdeval, and the installation of a station at Carolles Plage. This made the town of Jullou more accessible to new developers looking to build in the area. Even today, Jullouville is a resort that continues to develop, while remaining conscious of its seaside heritage, which it seeks to preserve. It is a symbol of thehistory of seaside bathing in the Destination, and its architectural eclecticism attracts thousands of visitors every year.