Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur Chalets
This region of France has very diverse landscapes. The departments of Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur located on the threshold of the Alps thus have a specific type of properties called Chalets.
Chalets walls are often made of stone and bear a wood structure. Local materials are used to build these Alps houses, insulating them from the humidity of the soil. Fir tree and larch are generally used. French chalets are also the result of a strong Swiss influence in the region. Some chalets in Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur are built of stone or cement. They are typical of the area. In this region of France, chalets are built using more stone than in the neighbouring Rhone Alps. Mountain chalets can provide you with absolutely fantastic views over the Alps. Many wooden houses called chalets in this area of France are small second houses used as holiday cottages. They are true chalets since foremost made of wood, with stone made walls bearing a wooden first floor.In this part of the Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur, roofs are often of massive dimensions, oriented towards the sun. A true typical chalet house has wooden stairs on the outside of the house to reach the first floor’s balcony. This latter is generally decorated and craft worked. Chalets are foremost simple properties which were originally barns, attics or temporary shelters in case of bad weather. It has become a house thanks to its simple and warm features and many of them are in fact rent as ski holidays properties during winter or mountain cottages during summer. In the valleys and towns, stone houses are prevailing. On the roof many diverse materials are used such as slates, flat tiles, flat schist tiles or gneiss. Gneiss is a rock approaching granite in composition, commonly rich in quartz and which was naturally formed at temperatures above about 550°c. Chalets have a roof protecting the front façade from the rain, snow and strong local winds. The house windows’ are wide and often painted in many different luminous colours.
- Summary of Provence Alps Cote d’Azur Architecture