step inside le corbusier’s icons: apartments in marseille, paris, and geneva listed for sale

Le Corbusier’s Vision can become Your Neighborhood

Le Corbusier’s iconic residential buildings, originally conceived as experiments in how people can live together, are still welcoming residents more than seventy years later. Recent property listings in Marseille, Paris, and Geneva show that these apartments are opportunities to live inside some of the most influential works of modern architecture. From the massive Cité Radieuse on the Marseille waterfront to the glass-fronted Molitor building in Boulogne-Billancourt, each space reflects Le Corbusier’s ideas about design, proportion, and community.

These buildings were meant to be lived in, adapted, and tested over time, housing real homes with terraces, kitchens, and fireplaces, where everyday life continues inside structures that once redefined modern living.

originally conceived as experiments in how people can live together | image © Valérie Ruperti photographe

Duplex Apartment in Cité Radieuse preserves original furnishings

In Marseille, the Cité Radieuse, completed in 1952, remains the most emblematic of Le Corbusier’s ‘unité d’habitation’ models. To purchase an apartment here is to become part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also part of an active community that still echoes with the optimism of postwar reconstruction.

One of the apartments currently on the market is an ascending Type G duplex occupying a high floor, offering 127 square meters of living space over two levels. The lower level features an entrance with storage that opens into a living space under a double-height ceiling. The open kitchen, designed by Charlotte Perriand, integrates with the dining and lounge areas, which extend toward a terrace framed by the glass facade and sea views.

A Jean Prouvé staircase leads to the upper level, a cross-through space dedicated to the night area. This includes a master suite with a bathroom and terrace overlooking the sea, two children’s bedrooms with balconies, a shower room, a fourth bedroom with its own bathroom, and generous storage. The children’s bedrooms are arranged in elongated layouts divided into three zones: a toilet and wash area, a rest area, and a play area connected to the neighboring room through a sliding partition.

the Cité Radieuse was completed in 1952 | image © Valérie Ruperti photographe

Modernist Living in Paris: 5th-Floor Apartment in Molitor

In Paris, the Molitor building (1931–34), designed in collaboration with Pierre Jeanneret and classified as a Historic Monument in 2017, stands as the city’s first residential block with a fully glazed facade, a precursor to the glass-and-steel towers of international modernism. Anchoring Boulogne-Billancourt, a neighborhood that in the interwar years attracted avant-garde artists, filmmakers, and designers, the building once housed Le Corbusier’s own apartment and studio on its upper floors.

The 112-square-meter renovated apartment listed occupies the 5th floor and opens onto a 9-square-meter continuous balcony with unobstructed views of the Jean Bouin Stadium and the sculptural Parc des Princes. Its living space includes a living room and dining area with an open kitchen, allowing light to pour in through the large glass roof and glass-brick balcony railing. The sleeping quarters include a master suite with balcony access, a secondary bedroom, a shower room, and separate toilets, while a cellar and parking space complete the offering.

The apartment’s volume is articulated by the structural pillars of the building, while the renovation embraces a restrained palette and high-quality finishes that enhance the geometric clarity and spatial logic of Le Corbusier’s design.

an ascending Type G duplex | image © FLC/ADAGP 2025 © Magali Joannon

Through-Flat Apartment with Terraces in Geneva’s Clarté

Further north in Geneva, the 1932 Clarté building distills yet another vision. Known as the Maison de Verre (House of Glass), it was created for an affluent clientele who sought the advantages of modern construction without abandoning comfort. With its modular concrete frame and prefabricated components, Clarté exemplified industrial rationalization while still offering flexible layouts. Its glazed facades incorporate wooden sun-shading galleries and stairwells illuminated through glass-block floors. After threats of demolition, the building was saved, restored by Pascal Häusermann and Bruno Camoletti in the 1970s, and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016. 

The 169-square-meter through-flat currently for sale occupies a prime position within the building. Meticulously renovated, the apartment preserves the Corbusian character of Clarté through generous volumes, high ceilings, and quality materials that complement the building’s original architectural features. Residents also benefit from the building’s celebrated communal design, featuring transparent landings and glass-block staircases that diffuse light throughout the core. A cellar completes the offering, rounding out one of the most desirable properties in this emblematic house of glass.

Another apartment in the building for sale, designed with an ascending logic, spans 277 square-meters over two levels. The lower floor includes an entrance hall, a versatile smoking room that can function as a bedroom or office, and a double-height living room illuminated by a striking facade of armored and clear glass, opening onto a running balcony. 

a living space under a double-height ceiling | image © FLC/ADAGP 2025 © Magali Joannon

Turning Bold Architectural Ideas into Ordinary Lives

These three buildings show how Le Corbusier’s ideas about housing changed over time and place: from the experimental community in Marseille to the open, airy designs in Paris to the precise, clear forms in Geneva. What were once bold visions for how people could live are now prized addresses in the real estate market. Yet it’s the people who continue to live in them that keep them alive, modernist ideas turned into everyday life. Living in one of these apartments lets you experience modern design as a part of daily life.

inside a UNESCO World Heritage Site | image © FLC/ADAGP 2025 © Magali Joannon

the apartment features the original furnishings | image © FLC/ADAGP 2025 © Magali Joannon

the Molitor building in Paris, designed with Pierre Jeanneret | © FLC / ADAGP 2025 © Manuel Bougot

the building once housed Le Corbusier’s own apartment and studio | image © FLC / ADAGP 2025 © Manuel Bougot

the city’s first residential block with a fully glazed facade | image © FLC / ADAGP 2025 © Manuel Bougot

the 1932 Clarté building is known as the Maison de Verre | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

designed with an ascending logic | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

a double-height living room illuminated by a striking facade | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

the 169-square-meter through-flat occupies a prime position within the building | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

the apartment preserves the Corbusian character of Clarté | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

project info:

name: Le Corbusier’s apartment listings

architects: Le Corbusier

location: Cité Radieuse, Marseille, France | Molitor building, Paris, France | Clarté building, Geneva, Switzerland 

real estate agency: Architecture de Collection | @architecturedecollection