USHER ASWAN'S HOUSE

Lost in the heights, the villa that Usher Aswan lived in overlooks part of the city and is extended by a terrace overlooking a river lined with lush vegetation where, it is said, the former master of the house used to have breakfast. Like many residences in which the great men of the country lived, this one is not maintained and attracts attention by its general state of degradation, but is nevertheless worth the detour, if only to pay its honours to the late resident and to sink into the contemplation of the beautiful surrounding landscape. A journey of nostalgia...

Biography. Born in Grand-Lahou on 24 October 1930 and died on 13 October 2007 at the age of 76, Usher Arsène Assouan, the illustrious son of the village, was one of the great personalities of the continent during the era of Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Brilliant lawyer at the Court of Appeal of Abidjan, territorial councillor in Grand-Lahou, member of the Constituent Assembly then Vice-President of the Legislative Assembly between 1958 and 1960, he served as attaché de cabinet to Félix Houphouët-Boigny, then delegate, then Minister of State in the Government of the French Republic. In March 1961, he became Permanent Delegate of Côte d'Ivoire to the United Nations and joined the PDCI-RDA in 1965, before being appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1966. Deputy Director of the Caisse de compensation et de prestations familiales de la Côte d'Ivoire (current CNPS), he was Mayor of Cocody from 1980 to 1990 and of Grand-Lahou from 1990 to 2007.