Postman Cheval’s Ideal Palace

The Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval is one of the most extraordinary buildings in France. A palace built from pebbles by a postman – an act of determination, self-belief and of art, a monument to man’s ingenuity says Janine Marsh.

Palais Ideale

Passing through a modern ticket office building on an unassuming street in a tiny town in a rather hidden part of southern France, I came face to face with a dream.

Hauterives in the Drôme department, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, is hardly known outside of France. There are around 2000 inhabitants, served by a friendly bar and a couple of restaurants, a cosy bakery, a few shops, B&Bs and a camp site. It’s a typically French country town – tranquil, sleepy even for the most part. But Hauterives has an extraordinary secret. Drive through the town and you may miss it. Swerve to a side street near the boulangerie, a stone’s throw from the charming Le Relais hotel (which had you passed you would be wondering why a little town like this needed one) and you will discover something quite extraordinary.

A palace, built by hand from pebbles collected by a postman as he performed his delivery rounds.

A man with a mission

Ferdinand Cheval was a man with a mission, though it didn’t come to him until quite late in life.

Born in 1836 in Drôme, unlike many of his contemporaries in this poor area of France, he went to school and learned to read and write. In 1830 the postal collection and delivery system began in France and when he left school, Cheval became a postman. He had a long round which he covered on foot – between 32-40km each day (20-25 miles). As he walked, he daydreamed. He had never travelled the world, but he “saw” it through illustrated magazines that were popular in those days. In the early 1870s postcards became popular and Cheval would deliver them, looking at the extraordinary views from around the world – the pyramids of Egypt, the Swiss Alps, Mosques and temples – images of far-flung lands he could never hope to see for himself, and they simply fuelled his dream even more.

One day in 1879, Cheval tripped on a stone while walking on his rounds. He popped it in his pocket and took it home. He later said that the thought occurred to him then “if nature is the sculptor, I will be the architect.” The pebble kickstarted a dream, a wild and improbable longing – he decided to build his own palace, a fairy tale palace.

Soon he began filling his pockets with pebbles as he walked his long rounds delivering post. It became an obsession. He took to wheeling a wooden barrow on his rounds so that he could collect larger stones and more of them.

At the age of 43, he started his project.

He had no building experience. He had never studied architecture. But for the next 33 years he toiled and learned as he went. Mixing limestone to bind the stones, sometimes using pieces of iron to give strength to the structure. His nephew who lived in Marseille sent seashells that he collected – great bags of shells posted to the postman. Cheval worked them into his designs. He made many drawings and though most have been lost, some do remain and are shown in the museum next to the palace.

He worked at night by candlelight after he’d finished a day’s work.

And he built a palace.

33 years, 10,000 days, 93,000 hours – one man. Through rain, snow and the summer heat nothing halted his ambition, nothing stopped his progress. “I wanted to prove what the will can do” he later said.

A palace like no other

It is an astounding example of naïve art architecture. It features giants and animals, fountains and strange figures, some parts look almost Gothic cathedral, some parts resemble Aztec temples. It is a mishmash of styles but wholly unique. I climbed the different levels, followed dark passages inside where every inch is covered with sculptures, art and messages. I walked around it several times, each time noticing something I hadn’t seen before.

The local people thought him crazy, but nothing deterred him. News of the postman’s palace of pebbles spread and in 1905 he opened it to the public. A few newspapers wrote about him and his “ideale palais”. By 1907 visitors from the USA were making the journey to Hauterives to see for their own eyes what one man could achieve with his bare hands and several tons of pebbles. I wondered how a man with such an obsession fared in his personal life. “He married twice” said our guide, “widowed in 1873, his second wife was wealthy and helped to fund his project. Both his wives were fully supportive of his ambitions.”

Artists and celebrities visited and were amazed by the sight of the emerging architecture – naïve for sure, but astonishing and unique. Picasso created a dozen drawings as a tribute and Salvador Dali was inspired to create a pavilion in homage.

Cheval became famous in his lifetime. Now he – always looking proud – and his Ideal Palace featured on the postcards he so loved. When someone took photos of his creation to sell as postcards without his permission, he took out a court case and created the first copyright in France.

Cheval never lived in the palace. When he started his masterpiece, he lived a few minutes’ walk away, but eventually he built a house next door which had a balcony overlooking the palace.

26 metres long (85 feet) by 12 metres wide (40 feet), it was the culmination of a wild dream, an obsession and a lifetime’s work by night.

The Palais Ideale of Postman Cheval is one of the wonders of France.

With the job completed in 1912, Cheval, now aged 76, started building his own tomb in the local churchyard. He finished it aged 83, and died the year after in 1924. Built in the same style as his palace, and towering over the cemetery, it is a fitting resting place for this most remarkable artist.

How to get there

By car is easiest but if you go by public transport, the nearest train stations are in Romans-sur-Isère or Saint Vallier-sur-Rhône. From both stations taxi services are available as well as buses which take around 30 minutes. Find more details of how to visit, opening times etc: www.facteurcheval.com

Discover the charms of the Drôme: Ladrometourisme.com/en
Discover Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes: auvergnerhonealpes.tourism.com

Janine Marsh is the author of several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.