The Cement Tile Reclaims its Nobility
In the bathrooms of the Costes Hotel, in the Royal Monceau restaurant, or in...
Doors from country houses and châteaux are returned to their former glory thanks to the painstaking work of the Atelier des Portes Anciennes in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Join us for a visit of this unique Provençal sanctuary.
By Jean-Dominique Dalloz - Photos Villard & Belaïche - January 3, 2012
Discover
Home
Lorem ipsum dolor
Portes Anciennes Villard & Belaïche
Route d’Avignon
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
Tél. 04.90.92.13.13
www.portesanciennes.com
The winter sunbeams caress the glazed façade of the atelier. As we step over the threshold, we enter a timeless world. Hundreds of doors are arranged throughout the 3,500-square-meter showroom. They are of every color, every style and every origin. Here, a farmhouse door, there, a door from a château… Small in size or monumental, destined to guard the entrance of a grand residence or to close off a narrow corridor with low ceilings, together, they constitute a fabulous collection.
Almost 15,000 pieces are on display here, in what is anything but a museum. Each of the doors here is waiting to be chosen to live again in a beautiful house, in Provence or elsewhere.
They have each been the object of Christian Belaïche’s—and his team of golden-fingered craftsmen’s—attentive care. For more than twenty years, these artisans have worked with passion to breathe new life into these unique pieces, amongst the smell of old wood and wax. Cabinetry, woodworking, and finishing studios sit side by side with an old forge where metal pieces are transformed into hinges and other bolts and handles.
The restoration work takes several days: the door must be dismantled, each piece of wood must be sanded, the grooves and reliefs must be revived, the pieces must be coated with protective finishes, the parts must be reassembled, and the hardware must be replaced
(old or new locks, handles, lozenge nails, etc.). Each door is a work of art, which has sometimes been signed by the craftsman who originally gave it life two, three, or sometimes even four-hundred years ago.
These restored doors are destined for a variety of different types of homes. A set of massive double doors will find their place in the entryway of a sumptuous 18th-century country house in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. As for another pair of inner shutters, they will become cupboard doors in a contemporary house in Aix. The most important thing for Christian Belaïche is to see that all the doors are used again for their intended purpose, and newly protected against the ravages of time.
