A little history of the Villa Magalone
And also
The tops
The Magalon and their estate
Here we are back in the beginning of the 17th century: two brothers from Marseille, the Magalon, rich merchants, just owned a 10 hectares land on a quiet place in Marseille called Mazargues. Their goal?
To raise their own house, a bastide, a typical house in Marseille area.
Plans were designed by sculptor Pierre Puget: it was a nice Classical castle with a main building flanked on each side.
A real summer estate! But the brothers suddenly sold it in 1721, when the terrible plague epidemic struk the city...
La Magalone fell to the Sabran family, then to the Paul. Sold during the French Revolution, the Ferry family owned the estate in the middle of the 19th century.
A very nice garden!
This family completely transformed the garden in the beginning of the 20th century: landscaper Edouard André laid it out.
In the middle of the 20th century, architect Le Corbusier raised buildings of la Cité Radieuse, on a part of the estate, between 1947 and 1952.
Then, Marseille city owned the place and gardens in 1987: goodbye, tranquility... Oh, no!
Not yet: the noisy city is just there, but the Magalone garden is still a peaceful paradise: hush! Listen to the rustle of the water, the wind in the leaves...
As many 18th century gardens, we have here little ponds, box trees, statues in the alleys... don’t miss the roses garden but also the fabrique, a small chapel (19th c.) with its lantern tower!