Louis Fallet, a master watchmaker and jeweller, was also a member of the adminstrative body of the Art School in La Chaux de Fonds. He commissioned Charles L’Éplattenier, a teacher at the School and mentor of the young Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, to build a family home on the Mont Pouillerel heights above La Chaux de Fonds. L’Éplattenier proposed that Jeanneret build this house in collaboration with the architect René Chapalaz. It was the first house to be built by the young man who had not yet become Le Corbusier.
Building took place between 1906-1907. Other pupils from the Art School’s senior classes took part in the project, helping to decorate the facades in particular.
This villa is considered a manifesto of the “style sapin” (fir tree style), inspired by Art Nouveau and the Jura environment and developed by Charles L’Éplattenier and his senior class Art School students.
The Fallet family lived in the house from its completion until 1921. With the exception of a few exterior modifications (window, extension of the balcony-terrace) and interior ones (on the ground floor), the house remained in its original state. The exterior and part of the interior, including the stairwell, were listed in 1979. The house was acquired in 2022 by the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
