Hauteville House is a house where
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
lived during his exile from France, located at 38 Rue Hauteville in
St. Peter Port
St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958.
St. P ...
in
Guernsey. In March 1927, the centenary year of
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, Hugo's descendants
Jeanne,
Jean
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Jea ...
, Marguerite and François donated the house to the
City of Paris. It currently houses an
honorary consul
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
to the French embassy at London and a Victor Hugo museum; house and garden are both open to the public.
19th Century
Built around 1800 by an English privateer, the house came into the possession of William Ozanne. It gained the reputation of being haunted by the spirit of a woman who had committed suicide, and remained unoccupied for several years.
Victor Hugo arrived in Guernsey in October 1855. He bought the house on 16 May 1856 with the revenues from the initial success of the publication of ''
Les Contemplations
''Les Contemplations'' (''The Contemplations'') is a song and collection of poetry by Victor Hugo, published in 1856. It consists of 156 poems in six books. Most of the poems were written between 1841 and 1855, though the oldest date from 1830. M ...
''. By owning it Hugo ensured that he could not be expelled from the island as Guernsey law prohibits the deporting of people with property on the island.
Hugo and his wife
Adèle Foucher transformed, furnished and decorated the house during his exile from 1856 to 1870, and during a return visit in the summer of 1878. He named the house "Hautville", rather than ''Liberté'', which had been his original intention. The house consists of four levels, with the top floor featuring a glazed lookout with a view of Saint Peter Port,
Herm and
Sark
Sark (french: link=no, Sercq, ; Sercquiais: or ) is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of ...
, and the islands near them. The garden is filled with trees and flowers that grow abundantly due to the mild climate.
20th and 21st Century
The City of Paris conserves the two houses that Victor Hugo lived in the longest : the Rohan-Guéménée mansion in Paris and the Hauteville House in Guernsey. Hauteville House was given to the City of Paris in 1927 by the descendants of Victor Hugo.
The structure of the building undertook a major renovation in 2008-9 and in 2017 an appeal was launched to pay for the renovation of internal decorations.
François Pinault
François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis.
Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public in ...
donated £2.6m (€3m) to renovate the interior and the house reopened on 7 April 2019.
Gallery photos
Image:GU001.jpg, The house's garden
Image:Emblem of France consulate.jpg, Hauteville House's consular agency plaque
File:Hauteville House Lookout.jpg, The lookout in Hauteville House, where Victor Hugo used to write.
References
External links
Maisons de Victor Hugo Paris-GuerneseyOffice de tourisme de Guernesey
Victor Hugo
Buildings and structures in Guernsey
Buildings and structures in Saint Peter Port
Tourist attractions in Guernsey
Paris Musées
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