Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur Maison de Maitre
Maisons de Maître are gorgeous stone properties that in Provence can also be called bastides. Please notice that the word Bastide has a dual usage. It is most commonly the name given to a fortified town or village in the south of France. For our purpose it is the name given to a traditional type of building found in Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur.
The shape of a Provence Bastide houses is square or rectangular, with an almost flat tiled roof and walls made up of stone and sometimes whitewashed or covered with stucco. Like traditional Maisons de Maitre, bastides often have a really practical layout. Bastide-style properties are found in both towns and in the countryside where they were originally occupied by wealthy farmers. During the 19th and 20th century, many bastides were in fact used as summer houses by wealthy citizens of Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur.
Some bastide houses also have archways on the ground level leading to garages or verandas (reminiscent of the archways or arcades which were common in medieval bastide towns). Although most of these bastides are located in the Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrénées regions of France, in terms of property, the word is used to describe a style of detached stone-built property or manor house found throughout the South of France. One well-known bastide in the southern part of France is the Bastide Neuve, located in the village of La Treille near Marseille, which was a summer house for the family of the famous French writer and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol.
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- Summary of Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur Architecture