​
THE DOUZANS HOUSE HAS PARTICIPATED IN THE HISTORY OF BANYULS-SUR-MER FROM 300 YEARS AND ART WAS INVITED THERE AT THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY WHEN ARISTIDES MAILLOL REALIZED WALL PAINTS.
Property of Nathalie Spitzlei-Magne, the Maison Douzans finds its origin at the beginning of the XVIII° century at a time when its ancestor Silvestre Douzans built a dwelling on a land by the sea. It was a two-storey stone house with an agricultural ground floor.
A first extension was added in 1750 and a second in 1790.
Marius Douzans (1848-1898), having inherited the property in the northern part, dressed the exterior in a rather sleek bourgeois style and undertook important work in the area of interior design around 1896. Beyond the rather classical and rational distribution, it should be noted that the owner appealed, to decorate the salon, to an artist whose talent was not yet confirmed: Aristide Maillol. Thanks to this act of patronage by Marius Douzans, we have on the fireplace trumeau of the main living room the only mural painting known to this artist
It is from this property, altered by the successive inheritances, that Nathalie Spitzlei-Magne inherited, who, having become aware of its historical and heritage dimension, started a restoration enterprise.
The architect of the buildings of France invited to know the places and seduced by the quality of the works, invited him to ask for protection under the title of historical monuments and supported him in his efforts. The property was thus inscribed in the inventory of historical monuments by Decree of the Prefect of Region on 27 January 2015.
The interior restoration work was carried out in 2015, making the house habitable again and treating wall paintings that were altered and uncoupled.
The façades were restored in 2019