La Rochelle, Art Deco Architectural Drawing By Louis Mandon-joly, 1929, Investment Property Design

MANDON-JOLY, Louis.
“City of La Rochelle – Preliminary design study for a group of investment properties on Avenue de Strasbourg” (Charente-Maritime). 1929.

Graphite and charcoal on beige paper. 83.7 x 68.5 cm (image size), in a frame measuring 92.8 x 77.6 cm.
Browned paper, with a few pinholes.Title in gold lettering within a large cartouche at the bottom.
Signed at the bottom left of the drawing (above the cartouche): “Prepared by the undersigned government-certified architect, in Limoges on Jan. 28, 1929, Mandon Joly.”

Louis Mandon-Joly was born in 1898 in Algeria. After studying architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in Pierre André’s studio, he settled in Limoges, where he served as departmental architect for Haute-Vienne, architect for Historic Monuments, and branch director of Bâtiments de France.

We do not know whether this proposal for an apartment building in La Rochelle was ever built (according to old postcards, Avenue de Strasbourg was the former name of what is now Avenue du Général de Gaulle, connecting the La Rochelle train station to the old port).


Ref. A10-68