#publisher World news RSS feed France RSS feed Europe RSS feed Switzerland RSS feed Art and design RSS feed Le Corbusier RSS feed Architecture RSS feed Culture RSS feed Heritage RSS feed Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off * Jump to content [s] * Jump to site navigation [0] * Jump to search [4] * Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US AU * Your activity * Email subscriptions * Account details * Linked services Profile Mobile About us * About us, * Contact us * Press office * Guardian Print Centre * Guardian readers' editor * Observer readers' editor * Terms of service * Privacy policy * Advertising guide * Digital archive * Digital edition * Guardian Weekly * Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper * Main section * G2 features * Comment and debate * Editorials, letters and corrections * Obituaries * Other lives * Sport * Subscribe Subscribe The Guardian home ____________________ Search * News * Sport * Comment * Culture * Business * Money * Life & style * Travel * Environment * Tech * TV * Video * Dating * Offers * Jobs * News * World news * France Marseille's Cité Radieuse damaged by fire Authorities assess damage to architect Le Corbusier's Radiant City, a landmark of modernist architecture * Share * Tweet this * * [pin_it_button.png] * * Email * Angelique Chrisafis in Paris * * theguardian.com, Friday 10 February 2012 10.41 GMT FRANCE-FIRE-CORBUSIER-HERITAGE Frefighters tackle a blaze in three flats at Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Photograph: Bruno Planchais/AFP/Getty Images One of France's most important landmarks of modernist architecture, La Cité Radieuse housing estate in Marseille, built by the architect Le Corbusier, has been damaged by fire. Fire services fought for over 12 hours to put out a blaze that began on Thursday afternoon in a first floor flat in the nine-storey concrete complex which is protected by special heritage status in France. The fire was brought under control at around 7am on Friday morning as authorities began to assess the damage to what is deemed a monument to postwar communal housing. Three apartments had been gutted and many others seriously damaged. Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, the Swiss-born architect better known as Le Corbusier, built what was hailed as the vertical village between 1947 and 1951. The building was inspired by travel, and was designed to look like a giant steamboat anchored in a park. Affectionately known as "la maison du fada" (the crackpot's house), around 1,600 people live in its 334 famously sound-proofed duplex apartments with functional 1950s interior design in a grid of modernist lines of exposed unsurfaced concrete. Envisaged as social housing, the building was quickly sold by the state. Some residents have lived there since its inauguration, while many recent inhabitants of the now sought-after apartments are middle-class teachers and architects. All residents were evacuated late on Thursday night as fire services struggled to keep the blaze under control and five people were treated in hospital. It was not clear how the fire started. Daily Email close Sign up for the Guardian Today Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. Sign up for the daily email * Print this Print this * Share * Contact us Send to a friend Close this popup Sender's name ____________________ Recipient's email address ____________________ Send Your IP address will be logged Share Close this popup Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/35cng * StumbleUpon * reddit * Tumblr * Digg * LinkedIn * Google Bookmarks * del.icio.us * livejournal * Facebook * Twitter Contact us Close this popup * Report errors or inaccuracies: userhelp@theguardian.com * Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@theguardian.com * If you need help using the site: userhelp@theguardian.com * Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 * + Advertising guide + License/buy our content Article history About this article Close this popup Marseille's Cité Radieuse damaged by fire This article was published on the Guardian website at 10.41 GMT on Friday 10 February 2012. It was last modified at 20.30 BST on Saturday 29 June 2013. 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