Sensaud de Lavaud Garage

Dimitri Sensaud de Lavaud, an engineer and inventor in aviation and the motor industry, author of many patents for Citroën, placed the order. Le Corbusier designed a garage for two cars, to stand at the foot of a classical town house in Neuilly-sur-Seine; he was also in charge of running the works and choosing the craftsmen, among them the reinforced-concrete firm of the engineer-contractor G. Summer, which handled the earthworks. For this simple project, Le Corbusier relied heavily on proposals from the contractors and craftsmen who worked for him.

The work fell behind: on 26 May 1926 the client, exasperated, wrote to Le Corbusier, who had to press the craftsmen again and again. The garage, completed, has since been demolished.

In its final version, which won the favour of Mrs Sensaud de Lavaud, to whom it was destined, the garage was closed by a sliding door of five leaves, one of them hinged, running on curved rails. On the outside, a fir trellis dabbed with green paint recalled the one in the garden of the Maison La Roche. A porthole window in the middle was its only source of natural light. This cladding helped blend the garage into the style and architecture of the town house.

A small bench was to stand against the facade. Planters were also planned, with slanting tensioners for climbing plants: Le Corbusier wanted to bring a little nature into the project.