Antoine Lumière built this house between 1899 and 1902 beside the factories where his sons Auguste and Louis had invented the cinematograph. The family hardly lived in it; today it is the museum of the invention that made it possible.
At a glance
The Villa Lumière stands in Monplaisir, in the east of Lyon, on the street now called Rue du Premier-Film. It was commissioned by Antoine Lumière, photographer and industrialist, and designed by the Lyon architects Paul Boucher and Charles-Joseph Alex. Its luxurious decoration shows the Art Nouveau taste of the turn of the century, and its bulk shows something else: how far a self-taught photographer and his two eldest sons had risen. The house has been a listed historic monument since 1986, belongs to the City of Lyon, and houses the Institut Lumière and its museum.
Key facts
- Where: 25 rue du Premier-Film, Monplaisir, 69008 Lyon, France
- Heritage status: inscrit Monument historique by order of 20 May 1986 (Mérimée PA00117993); label Maisons des Illustres (2011)
- Built: 1899–1902 (the Mérimée record gives 1899 and 1901)
- Architects: Paul Boucher and Charles-Joseph Alex, of Lyon
- Client: Antoine Lumière, father of Auguste and Louis Lumière
- Owner: City of Lyon
- Current use: Institut Lumière — Musée Lumière, library and film heritage centre
- Coordinates: 45.744977, 4.870474 · open in Google Maps
History
In 1882 Antoine Lumière bought a large plot in Monplaisir, then on the eastern edge of Lyon, and built there what the Lyon tourist office describes as the largest photographic products factory in Europe. It was in these works that Auguste and Louis developed the cinematograph; the street name, Rue du Premier-Film, recalls the first Lumière film, shot at the factory gate. The first public screening of the cinematograph followed on 28 December 1895.
The villa was the family’s reward to itself. Antoine commissioned it at the very end of the century, and the architects Alex and Boucher raised it between 1899 and 1902 next to the factories. The Institut Lumière calls it the last witness in Lyon to the industrial success of Antoine and his sons, and to the social ascent of a self-taught adventurer. In practice the house was lived in only for a few years, by Antoine’s wife, Jeanne-Joséphine.
Afterwards it served the business: it became offices of the Société Lumière. In 1978 it was renovated to house the Fondation nationale de la photographie, which stayed until its dissolution in 1993. In 1982 the Institut Lumière was founded here, created by Bernard Chardère with Maurice Trarieux-Lumière, a grandson of Louis. The house was listed in 1986, received the Maisons des Illustres label in 2011, and reopened to visitors at the end of October 2023 after a renovation.
What you see
The street front is a broad, deliberately irregular composition in cream render and pale stone: two steep-roofed pavilions of different widths stand at either end, and between them a central bay rises to the tallest dormer of all. What catches the eye first is the roof: steep, dark slopes covered in tiles laid in a pattern of yellow and red lozenges, crowned by delicate metal cresting and finials, with a chimney banded in red and white brick. That central dormer carries a fan-shaped, sunburst window under a pointed gable.
The facade below is busy with incident. Stone balconies with turned balusters sit on carved brackets, ornamental cartouches are set into the right wing, and the window surrounds are moulded and eared. On the ground floor, a row of tall windows is filled with ironwork glazing bars in curving patterns, the most openly Art Nouveau element on the outside. The whole rests on a rusticated stone base. A vertical banner of the Institut Lumière hangs on the right-hand wing.
Practical information
- The villa houses the Musée Lumière, run by the Institut Lumière; opening days and times are published on the Institut’s website.
- The Institut also runs the cinema in the Hangar du Premier-Film and a library in the former painting studio of Antoine Lumière on the upper floors.
- The exterior can be seen from Rue du Premier-Film and from the garden side at any time.
Getting there
Monplaisir is in the 8th arrondissement, east of the Rhône and south-east of the city centre. The villa is on Rue du Premier-Film, close to the Monplaisir-Lumière station of Lyon metro line D. Lyon–Saint-Exupéry is the nearest airport.
Nearby
- The Hangar du Premier-Film, a remnant of the Lumière factories, now the Institut’s cinema, a few steps away.
- The Jardin du Château Lumière, a public garden a short walk away.
- Place Ambroise-Courtois, the square named in the villa’s heritage record as its second address.
Sources
- Plateforme ouverte du patrimoine, Mérimée PA00117993: maison dite Villa des Frères Lumière, 25 rue du Premier-Film / place Ambroise-Courtois, dated 1899 and 1901, inscribed by order of 20 May 1986, municipal property.
- Institut Lumière, Villa Lumière: the house as the last witness of the Lumière success; the Hangar cinema and the library in Antoine’s former studio.
- ONLYLYON Tourisme, Villa Lumière: built 1899–1902 by the Lyon architects Alex and Boucher, Art Nouveau decoration, lived in only a few years by Jeanne-Joséphine Lumière, the factory as the largest in Europe.
- Wikipédia, Villa Lumière: the architects’ full names, the later uses (Société Lumière, Fondation nationale de la photographie 1978–1993), the 2011 label and the reopening in October 2023; and Institut Lumière for its foundation in 1982.
- OpenStreetMap / Nominatim: position, returned as 25, Rue du Premier Film, Monplaisir, Lyon 8e.
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →📷 Become a Cultural Heritage Online photographer
Share your photos of places: they stay published under your name as the author. The more they're seen, the more you get noticed — and soon a contest will reward the most appreciated photos.
Log in or sign up free to add a photoIs this page about you?
This page is read by travellers and heritage enthusiasts who find it on Google. Tell us how you are connected to this place and we will take it from there.