Le Touquet-Paris-Plage
Encyclopedia
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, commonly referred to as Le Touquet, is a commune
in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France
. It has a population of 5,355.
Le Touquet has a reputation as the most elegant holiday resort of northern France, the playground of rich Parisians, with many luxury hotels.
Since the mid-1990s, Le Touquet’s villas have become extremely fashionable amongst architecture lovers throughout Europe, rediscovering the “folie” of seaside architecture of both the Roaring Twenties
and the Thirties. The most famous local architect is Louis Quetelart
, whose style was named after him: Louis Quetelart Style.
(1812–1879), founder and owner of the Paris newspaper, Le Figaro
. Then this was an area of wild sand dune
s and forest - part of a hunting estate. Its name came from a Picard
word meaning ‘corner’, and was originally applied to the area of coast nearby. It became known as “Paris by the sea”, and strict building regulations encouraged the most talented architects to create imaginative and innovative developments.
. In 1909, H. G. Wells
and Amber Reeves
fled to Le Touquet in an abortive elopement. The two returned to Britain after a number of weeks, though Amber later gave birth to Wells's daughter, Anna-Jane Blanco White, after the relationship ended. In the 1920s, Noël Coward
and the “smart set” from England spent weekends here, and commissioned more outstanding villa
designs echoing traditional and ultra-modern domestic styles. Today the town tourist office offers organised trails to see outstanding examples of 19th and 20th century domestic architecture, which are now preserved and protected. Sayaji Rao III Gaekwar of Baroda also owned a house here.
and a horse racing course, a wide range of sports, particularly golf are offered. The casino provided the inspiration of the casino of Royale-les-Eaux in Casino Royale
.
Every year in February, a motorbike and quad race called 'Enduro
' is held where bikes race along the beach and through the dunes.
; its current partners are: Winterberg
, Germany
(since September 1966), winter sports town Rixensart
, Belgium
, south of Brussels
Witney
, Oxfordshire
, United Kingdom
Sidi Bou Said
, Tunisia
, upscale seaside town in the suburbs of Tunis
Cary
, North Carolina
, United States
Eckbolsheim
, France
, 5 km (3.1 mi) from Strasbourg
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It has a population of 5,355.
Le Touquet has a reputation as the most elegant holiday resort of northern France, the playground of rich Parisians, with many luxury hotels.
Since the mid-1990s, Le Touquet’s villas have become extremely fashionable amongst architecture lovers throughout Europe, rediscovering the “folie” of seaside architecture of both the Roaring Twenties
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America, but also in London, Berlin and Paris for a period of sustained economic prosperity. The phrase was meant to emphasize the period's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism...
and the Thirties. The most famous local architect is Louis Quetelart
Louis Quetelart
Louis Quételart is one of the most famous villa architects of the Roaring Twenties and Thirties in France. Most of his work is to be seen in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage....
, whose style was named after him: Louis Quetelart Style.
History
The resort was created in 1876 by Hippolyte de VillemessantHippolyte de Villemessant
Jean Hippolyte Auguste Delaunay de Villemessant was a conservative French journalist.- Life :...
(1812–1879), founder and owner of the Paris newspaper, Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
. Then this was an area of wild sand dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s and forest - part of a hunting estate. Its name came from a Picard
Picard language
Picard is a language closely related to French, and as such is one of the larger group of Romance languages. It is spoken in two regions in the far north of France – Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy – and in parts of the Belgian region of Wallonia, the district of Tournai and a part of...
word meaning ‘corner’, and was originally applied to the area of coast nearby. It became known as “Paris by the sea”, and strict building regulations encouraged the most talented architects to create imaginative and innovative developments.
Le Touquet and the wealthy British
In 1903, an Englishman bought the land, and set out to sell properties to the rich from across the English ChannelEnglish Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. In 1909, H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
and Amber Reeves
Amber Reeves
Amber Blanco White [née Amber Reeves] was a British feminist writer and scholar.-Early life:Reeves was born in Christchurch, New Zealand,the eldest of three children...
fled to Le Touquet in an abortive elopement. The two returned to Britain after a number of weeks, though Amber later gave birth to Wells's daughter, Anna-Jane Blanco White, after the relationship ended. In the 1920s, Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
and the “smart set” from England spent weekends here, and commissioned more outstanding villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
designs echoing traditional and ultra-modern domestic styles. Today the town tourist office offers organised trails to see outstanding examples of 19th and 20th century domestic architecture, which are now preserved and protected. Sayaji Rao III Gaekwar of Baroda also owned a house here.
Miscellaneous
Inland from the beach, hotels, a casinoCasino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
and a horse racing course, a wide range of sports, particularly golf are offered. The casino provided the inspiration of the casino of Royale-les-Eaux in Casino Royale
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
.
Every year in February, a motorbike and quad race called 'Enduro
Beach racing
Beach racing is an offshoot of enduro and motocross racing. As the name implies, riders on solo motorcycles, quad bikes, or sidecar combinations compete on a course marked out on a beach, often with man made jumps and sand dunes being constructed to make the course tougher.Beach races are usually...
' is held where bikes race along the beach and through the dunes.
Twin towns
Le Touquet participates in international town twinningTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
; its current partners are: Winterberg
Winterberg
Winterberg is a town in the Hochsauerland district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and a major winter sport resort of the Wintersport Arena Sauerland.-Geography:...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(since September 1966), winter sports town Rixensart
Rixensart
Rixensart is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006 Rixensart had a total population of 21,355. The total area is 17.54 km² which gives a population density of 1,217 inhabitants per km²....
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, south of Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
Witney
Witney
Witney is a town on the River Windrush, west of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England.The place-name 'Witney' is first attested in a Saxon charter of 969 as 'Wyttannige'; it appears as 'Witenie' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name means 'Witta's island'....
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Sidi Bou Said
Sidi Bou Said
Sidi Bou Said is a town in northern Tunisia located about 20 km from the capital, Tunis.The town got its name for a Muslim religious figure who lived there, Abou Said ibn Khalef ibn Yahia Ettamini el Beji . The town itself is a tourist attraction as it is known for the extensive use of blue and...
, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, upscale seaside town in the suburbs of Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
Cary
Cary, North Carolina
Cary is a large town and suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located almost entirely in Wake County, it is the second largest municipality in that county and the third largest municipality in The Triangle after Raleigh and Durham...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Eckbolsheim
Eckbolsheim
Eckbolsheim is a commune, in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, 5 km (3.1 mi) from Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...