Historic Maison Reimagined in the South of France from Pauline Percheron

Architect Pauline Percheron, based just outside Montpellier in Saint-Georges-d’Orques, was tasked with a delicate balance: to modernize and expand a historic maison de maître without losing its soul. Situated in a protected area, the home—a main house and small outbuilding—had been partially renovated 15 years prior. Its owners, now empty nesters, wanted to reimagine it as a warm, open retreat where their grown children and future grandchildren could gather. The challenge was to unify the fragmented ground floor and carve out generous, light-filled living spaces within the home’s modest 120 square meters.

A graduate of La Cambre in Brussels and having studied in Paris-Belleville, Percheron brings a confident sensibility to her work—anchored in context, proportion, and respect for history. Having left Paris five years ago to establish her own practice in the south of France, she approaches renovation as an act of continuity rather than contrast. In this project, she preserved the house’s defining details—the grand staircase, the plaster moldings—while subtly rethinking its volumes to accommodate modern life, achieving a thoughtful dialogue between past and present.

Photography by Mary Gaudin for Pauline Percheron.