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The golden triangle

The thermal development of Vichy is twinned with its urban planning. Between the thermal establishment and the parks along the Allier, at the end of the XIXth and the beginning of the XXth century, the initiatives of the State and the municipality coexist with those of the private promoters : rentiers, shopkeepers, architects, doctors, individuals, etc.

An enamelled Golden Triangle

of villas and old palaces

This construction fever is illustrated by the emergence of the golden triangle: creation of streets, villas and hotels thus offering visitors a double card: care and housing. Located between the boulevards of Russia, the United States and the parc des Sources, it is protected from the fury of the Allier by a dike since 1860. Today, it is integrated into the Unesco perimeter. For, the city of Vichy is a candidate, along with ten other European spa towns, under the banner of the “Great spas of Europe”, for the Unesco World Heritage classification. Stroll along the streets where the eye is constantly drawn to this flowering of remarkable and eclectic architecture

Around the golden triangle

Where the thermal heart of Vichy beats

It is nicknamed the golden triangle of Vichy, not that the sleepy poppy is bled there on full moon nights, the analogy would rather be sought on the side of Bohemia and its thermal triangle. In reality, the thermal district of Vichy has been organized since 1805 around the triangle of the Sources Park, the completion of which is owed to the family lobbying of Maria-Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte to her son Emperor.
This park, which spreads out to the south of the natural emergence of the hot springs (Chomel, Grande-Grille), organizes the space into a promenade between the components of the thermal program: treatment, leisure, accommodation. Sea, sex and sun local. The attraction of this magical triangle has attracted the most luxurious villas, hotels and palaces, the most sought-after restaurants and the most exclusive shops to its periphery. Facing the park, between the thermal baths and the opera house, they have found their waterfront.

discover

The street of Belgium

This street illustrates the flowering of villas in a variety of styles between the late 19th and first half of the 20th century.

Castel Flamand

Villa Vénitienne

Villa Strauss

Go through

Alquié Street

If the presence of Napoleon III is expressed by the construction of cottages on the current boulevard des États-Unis, dedicated to the imperial couple and his government, other villas, opposite, testify to it. In 1864, at the request of the Count of Clermont Tonnerre, a series of eight houses was ordered from the architect Jean Lefaure, who had just built the Marie-Louise chalet. For, it was in fact a question of housing the officers of the imperial guard.