Building Name

Francon near Biarritz

Date
1880 - 1884
District/Town
Bairritz
County/Country
Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, France
Client
J Pennington Mellor
Work
New build
Listed
France Ref S3.10
Contractor
Dominique Morin, of Biarritz

In 1880 construction began on the construction of a house in Biarritz -Françon for J Pennington Mellor, for whom Salomons had previously designed Beeston Lodge in Cheshire. Françon is still in existence and is the French equivalent of a listed building. It occupies a magnificent position at the foot of the Pyrenees on a site sloping up from the coast, hence the verandas and terraces. The ground floor is of stone and the upper half “half timbered. Typical Salomons gazebo and spires. John Pennington Mellor (1833-1908), made his fortune by way of the cotton trade between Brazil and Liverpool. In the 19th century, the Basque coast was highly popular among the British and Mellor commissioned Ralph Selden Wornum and Edward Solomons to design a vast Anglo Norman or "Old English" style residence set in a large park.   Construction began in 1880 and was completed by 1884. The house featured a luxurious eclectic and very refined scheme of interior decoration with the best factories of England, France and Germany (for windows) providing their products. Stripped of most of its furniture, the building was sold in 1948 and acquited by the Fund for Family Allowances in 1985 who made it into a reception centre. Fortunately some photographs of the original décor and furnishings still exist [S.3.11 – 3.13] and the ceiling of the Grand Salon with the most elaborate plasterwork and decoration [S.3.14].

HOUSE AT FRANCON, BIARRITZ - From Francon, near Biarritz, the property of Mr. J. Pennington Mellor, a magnificent panorama of mountain, sea, and sky is to be seen, the situation at the foot of the Pyrenees and sloping up from the gulf of Gascony being unusually beautiful. The house has been designed in order to obtain for its inhabitants as much of the prospect as is possible: hence the verandahs and terraces which shade from the sun and give eyelashes to the observer, and hence the towers seen for miles around, and from which, stretching far away to the southeast, can be seen on a clear day the Pic du Midi, queen of the Pyrenees. The house is built of hard stone, cemented up to the first floor, and the upper portion is of half-timber, like the Basque cottages. The windows are narrow, in order to permit of their being closed by the very necessary persiennes, and the walls are in some parts 3 feet thick, to keep out the midsummer heat. Dominique Morin, of Biarritz, carried out the work, from the designs and under the direction of Messrs. Edward Salomons and R Selden Wornum, of London. [Builder 21 June 1884 page 907]

Reference      Builder 21 June 1884 page 907