The sun shines again into the Delune House

May 2019. After a year of works where floors, window frames, mouldings, fittings, mosaics, lanterns and stained glass, have been finely renovated, the oldest building of the avenue Franklin Roosevelt and certainly, one the most venerable, hosts now the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates.

Designed at the beginning of the 20th century by the architect Léon Delune, this rather mysterious house arouses many passions. The so-called Delune House, is the oldest in the Roosevelt Avenue, it was built before the 1910 World’s Fair, consequently, before the roads were created.

This originality explains its particular orientation, based, and the existence of many gateways. Inevitably, well lit, it will escape the fire that ravaged many pavilions of the Universal Exhibition. The new dense programme, has been carefully analysed in order to meet the requirements of the contracting authority; in particular concerning the special techniques and the security, very important elements imposed by the imperatives and constraints of a place hosting an embassy.

The integration of these techniques was obviously very complex in this project whose primary objective was to give back to this exceptional building all its authenticity. A multi-purposes pavilion with flexible workspaces and collaborative areas has been also integrated in the property as well as an underground car park and a ceremonial garden designed by the landscape architect Anne-Marie Sauvat from Eole society.