Hôtel Roux de Corse

Hôtel Roux de Corse is an 18th-century townhouse on rue Montgrand in Marseille's 6th arrondissement, now absorbed into the buildings of the Lycée Montgrand. Visitors usually come across it while wandering the streets near the Old Port, drawn by the quiet grandeur of a facade that hints at the city's shipping-era wealth.

Where exactly is it, and what does it look like?

The mansion sits on rue Montgrand, a calm stretch of central Marseille just a short walk from the Vieux-Port. From the street it could pass for an ordinary 18th-century townhouse, but a closer look reveals flat pilasters topped with Ionic capitals and finely detailed window surrounds — hallmarks of Marseille's mid-1700s residential architecture.

Why does the name mention Corsica?

Construction dates to around 1745, commissioned by brothers Jean-André and Georges Roux, shipowners who had built a fortune through maritime trade. Their father, Jean-François Roux, had earlier settled on Tinos, an island in the Cyclades, where he married Anne Marie Franceschi, a woman of Corsican descent. That family detail is the reason the surname carries the tag "de Corse," a label that stuck to the house as well as the family.

Who actually designed it?

No document names an architect outright, but historian Raoul Busquet spotted a telling clue: the window shapes and the same Ionic-capped pilasters recur almost identically at the Hôtel Daviel, built between 1743 and 1747. From that overlap he concluded both buildings likely came from the same hands — the Gérard brothers, Charles the elder and Joseph-Ignace the younger, architects active in Marseille's private-mansion boom of the period.

What happened to it after the Roux family?

The building's role shifted sharply in the early 19th century. In 1805 the city of Marseille purchased it from the Roux heirs, and for a time it served as the official residence of the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, the region's top state official. Its next transformation came in 1891, when the house was converted into a girls' school.

What is it used for today?

The former mansion is now part of the Lycée Montgrand campus, one of Marseille's secondary schools. The interiors have been adapted for classroom use, but the exterior still carries the proportions and decorative restraint of a mid-18th-century private residence, making it a worthwhile stop for anyone tracing Marseille's architectural history.

Frequently asked questions

Can visitors go inside Hôtel Roux de Corse? The building operates as an active school (Lycée Montgrand), so public access to the interior is generally limited or unavailable, except during occasional heritage open days.

Why does the name reference Corsica? The "de Corse" tag traces back to the founders' mother, Anne Marie Franceschi, who was of Corsican origin; their father had settled on the Greek island of Tinos before the family's Marseille fortunes took shape.

When was the building constructed? It went up around 1745, during a period when Marseille's booming maritime trade was making fortunes for shipowning families like the Roux.

Is this the only mansion of its kind in Marseille? No — several comparable townhouses date from the same era, including the Hôtel Daviel, whose architectural similarities to Hôtel Roux de Corse led historians to link both buildings to the same design team.