Labourdine houses
They often have the same characteristics: half-timbered facade, often facing east, with crossed windows and red shutters - red because ox blood was used as paint -. This color is also a dominant color with a strong character: the chili pepper or the flag, which are all characteristic symbols of the famous Basque red. Houses of peasants, carpenters, small merchants, they have for the most part windows surrounded by molded wooden frames with wrought iron railings. The Hispanic influence is clearly present. Also typical are the villages closer to the bastides, with their narrow streets and courtyards: villages built around the church with their gardens at the back, the indissociable pediments as well as the town hall square, without forgetting the cafés, a real place of life. Let's mention a few jewels of this architecture: the center of Bayonne around the cathedral, Ainhoa, Ascain, Sare, Saint-Palais, the citadel of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, among others.
The houses of Basse-Navarre
They have been influenced by the Spanish Navarre (of which it was part until 1530) and by the geology of the soils of the region. The houses are mainly made of stone, with a flat façade, without half-timbering. The entrance door, often imposing, surrounded by ashlars, in pink sandstone, is surmounted by a small window and a lintel that indicates the name and quality of the original owner. The roofs are covered with red tiles and the visible corner stones reinforce the impression of robustness of the house.
Basque churches
In addition to their architecture with a single nave and no transept, they often feature (in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Ainhoa and Saint-Pierre-d'Irube in particular) the famous three-storey wooden galleries reserved for the men, while the women occupied the Jarleku.
The castles
There is no shortage of them! The Basque Country can be proud of its plethora of castles. Among the oldest, we find the ducal castle of Gramont in Bidache, mentioned in 1329. Others are scattered throughout the territory such as the castle of Andurain de Maytie, built in the 17th century in Mauléon-Licharre in Soule, as well as the fortified castle of Mauléon dating from the 12th century. The castle of Urtubie in Urrugne is a romantic figure with its park. It belongs to the same family since the XIVth century. The castle of the barons of Ezpeleta in Espelette is the oldest, because dated from the year 1000. The castle of Camou, near Saint-Palais, dates from the XIth century. The castle observatory Abbadia in Hendaye is a more contemporary jewel. Designed by the famous architect Viollet-le-Duc, it rests on the Basque cornice, facing the ocean.
The beautiful hotels and residences of the Basque coast
Testimony of a sumptuous past, hotels and residences flourish on the Basque coast. Biarritz, city of kings, has preserved some exceptional works. The Villa Eugenie, originally the summer residence of the empress, was built around 1855. It was later transformed into a luxury hotel and became the Hôtel du Palais, a palace on the Atlantic coast that has seen many crowned heads and movie stars. It is now renovated after three years of Dantean work. Among the other jewels in the crown of the Basque Riviera is the Régina, an emblematic building of the Belle Époque, built in 1907. With its remarkable patio, it overlooks the ocean from its white façade. There is no shortage of Art Deco facades, notably that of the Biarritz swimming pool and the casino along the Grande Plage. Other exceptional buildings are the villa on the Atalaye plateau and the Orthodox church in the Byzantine style which owes its creation to the strong Russian aristocratic presence at the beginning of the 20th century, after the revolution.
The castle of Ilbarritz, built in 1897 for the baron Albert de l'Espée, enjoys an exceptional situation. Let's not forget the emblematic Villa Belza of neo-medieval style, clinging to the cliff and near the Rocher de la Vierge, in Biarritz. Another remarkable building in Saint-Jean-de-Luz is the Grand-Hotel, a 5-star establishment on the beach, facing the bay and built in 1909.
Other remarkable buildings in the Basque Country with an Art Deco influence
Buildings that celebrate the joy of life recovered after the war were erected during the 1920s and 1930s, a golden age of modern architecture and Art Deco. To do this, craftsmen and artists competed with each other in imagination. Buildings with astonishing geometric forms, often yielding to the Moorish influences of the time, are a reflection of this impulse of modernity which operates a real break with the traditional codes of the Basque Country. Among some examples of "little jewels", we find the Didam in Bayonne, this former building of the Labor Exchange is located on the banks of the Adour. The splendid glass roof on the purified facade of the stores "Aux dames de France" in Bayonne and "Aux bonheurs des dames" in Biarritz - now "Les Galeries Lafayette" -, the villa Malaye in Bayonne, the villa Sousanna in Anglet, "la villa rêverie", the residence Itsasoan and the hotel Guétharia in Guéthary enjoy astonishing facades for their style. We also find the establishment of the baths of the Coast of the Basques in Biarritz, former HQ of the "tontons surfeurs", the surfmen of the Sixties... Finally, let us not forget the famous Villa Leihorra in Ciboure which acts as a jewel of the Art Deco of the Basque Country and well beyond.
Architecture in the Basque Country today
Many factors favor the development of residences and individual houses in an exponential way inland: the strong influence of new entrants (because the region always attracts more), each year, 1% of additional inhabitants on average, the tourist and economic attraction and finally the high prices along the coast, from Bayonne to Hendaye. Hasparren, Ustaritz, Saint-Pierre d'Irube and many other communes are also impacted by this construction boom. Fortunately, there is no question here of concreteization as in other regions.
