Hauteville House, the former home of Victor Hugo on Guernsey, opened Sunday 7th April after an estimated €4.5 million euro renovation programme that has seen it closed for 18 months.
The programme has extensively restored this exceptional residence, which usually welcomes 20,000 visitors a year between April and September, to its creative and unique original state. Among the renovation works, furniture collected by Hugo from all over the world has been reconditioned, the conservatories have been rebuilt to bring more light into the house and the garden has been re-laid to how the garden was originally conceived by Hugo.
The residence was designed and furnished by the French writer and artist during his fifteen-year exile in Guernsey from 1856 and was where Hugo wrote some of his most famous works including Les Misérables, Toilers of the Sea, The Man Who Laughs and The Legend of the Ages. The beautiful house is widely regarded as a piece of work in itself and an expression of his creative genius with a profusion of second-hand furniture and bric-à-brac bought by Hugo during his time on the island.
The house was passed to the city of Paris by the Hugo family in 1927 and is now managed by Paris Musées, which is also responsible for the conservation of Hugo’s other iconic house on the Place des Vosges in Paris.
Hauteville House is open daily, except Wednesdays, from April 7th to September 30th, from 10 am to 6 pm. Admission is £10 for adults and children under 18 are free. Admission to the Garden only is £4.
Guided tours only, and reservations are required for groups of ten or more.
www.visitguernsey.com/see-and-do/things-to-do/victor-hugo-house-hauteville-house/
