The Maison de Verre, one of the world's best-preserved modernist buildings

I think this must be the first time in my life I've actually seen modernism achieve a satisfactory combination of the industrial, on the one hand, and the humanistic, on the other - I'm not sure I love the nonskid flooring everywhere, and a Persian rug or similar might help tie together the conversation area centered on the divan, but the overall impression is nonetheless quite an appealing one. Based on the geometry of the space, I suspect the aural environment would be similarly pleasant - the high, airy volume would support close conversation without turning a more declamative style into a farrago of reverberation, and support a nuanced piano performance without swallowing quiet passages or ruining loud ones.

The salon being apparently the focus of the place, or at least of that photography I've found, it's hard to get a sense of the other rooms, and modernist architecture in general has a nasty habit of being a bear to maintain due to design features more oriented toward presenting the architect's vision than withstanding the loads placed on an edifice by its environment. But at the very least, should I ever find myself in the neighborhood, I'll most certainly have to find some way to visit.

"A card-carrying member of the French Communist Party, Dalsace hosted a variety of Marxist thinkers"

"when they had guests, they used a glamorous, broad staircase, which has no rails and seems to float in midair"

"A tearoom has a small port on a metal pivot, which allowed the service staff to deliver tea or coffee without having to walk all the way around and into the room."

"Writing in “Experience and Poverty” in 1933, a year after the Maison de Verre was completed, Benjamin reflected on its entirely glass facade as the architectural analog to Communism."

"The house was designed to its owners’ very personality—a house like a Swiss watch, perfection and utility in every tiny gear."

"Aline Vellay, Jean’s daughter, decided she wanted to sell the house to the French government, hoping it could be opened to the public as a national landmark. For unexplained reasons, the government didn’t want it."

Few things scream Gauche caviar as this story does.