a special house model !

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

When I first saw this model on Patricia’s Agence Eureka site back in January of 2013, I, along with rockpaperscissor, thought it was a doll house and I quickly passed it by looking for vintage models of fast moving, dangerous machines. But after a time or two on my screen, I finally realized exactly what was going on here, and I had to build this strange, utterly bizarre card model of a…well, see for yourself.

First published in the French humor magazine, Le Rire, or The Laugh, on July 30th, 1904, La Boite Secrete de Nevers, or The Secret Box of Nevers, has survived more than 100 years to tell a story of the ins and outs of French culture at the height of La Belle Epoque.

All credit goes to those who built the model before me, as it is not an easy thing to do. Special note should be given to ridetherory for his working model, seen in this thread. After studying the uncut model and figuring out how the designer wanted it constructed, I chose to ignore his ideas and strike out on my own. I wanted to eliminate the opening outside wall as it was flimsy and wouldn’t last long. I removed the black, vertical cut-line and placed the unique façade at the back of the house, adding a bit on top to reach the needed height of the roofline. This way, the model could be displayed on a book shelf with the façade exposed, and when it was taken down and turned around, its secret would be revealed.

I like to build with strength in mind, and to this end, the printed walls and floors are laminated onto picture framer’s mat board. This makes for a sturdy model that can withstand the rigorous goings-on in the house. One of the more interesting aspect of the model are the detailed ceilings. Sooner or later, everybody in the house will be looking at the ceilings, and to include them in the model shows a humorous attention to detail. Also of note are the old couple in their sitting room. I always assumed they were the madam’s parents, fully supportive of their daughter’s successful profession. Very funny stuff. Finally, the cribs are discretely included under the eaves. Small rooms, not meant for permanent occupancy.

A scandalous model such as this would never be produced in any other media other than paper. This is what makes card modeling so interesting…you never know what you’ll find next.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[Vermin_King]

Nicely done. I'd almost forgotten about this one

[ridetheory]

Originally Posted by Thumb Dog

All credit goes to those who built the model before me, as it is not an easy thing to do. Special note should be given to ridetherory for his working model, seen in this thread.

Thank you!

After studying the uncut model and figuring out how the designer wanted it constructed, I chose to ignore his ideas and strike out on my own. I wanted to eliminate the opening outside wall as it was flimsy and wouldn’t last long. I removed the black, vertical cut-line and placed the unique façade at the back of the house, adding a bit on top to reach the needed height of the roofline. This way, the model could be displayed on a book shelf with the façade exposed, and when it was taken down and turned around, its secret would be revealed.

That's a very clever idea!

Also of note are the old couple in their sitting room. I always assumed they were the madam’s parents, fully supportive of their daughter’s successful profession. Very funny stuff.

I believe they are supposed to be a doctor and his wife. Prostitution in France in those days was government regulated, and there had to be a doctor on site.

Nice, solid-looking build!

[Thumb Dog]

Thanks, VK...

And ridetheory, how about this? The madam's father is a doctor. Thanks for writing.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[ridetheory]

Originally Posted by Thumb Dog

And ridetheory, how about this? The madam's father is a doctor.

Sure, that works.

[Thumb Dog]

Hello All,

Recently, I received an email from Monsieur Olivier Auger, of Paris France. He was asking about my model of La Boite de Nevers as seen in this thread. I thought the information contained in his emails was fascinating, and with his permission, I have included his account below. I have engaged in a bit of editing of the texts, namely redacting email addresses and finessing a few of the differences in capitalization and punctuation between French and English.

Just a note to show my appreciation to Monsieur Auger and all other contributors to this site for whom English if not their native language. Their extra efforts to communicate with us in English brings the greater world to our eyes. Their efforts are much appreciated.

We begin…



The original email from Olivier Auger, Paris, France 3/13/16

Hello Thumb Dog,

Years ago you wrote on a blog: " I have just completed my model of La Boite de Nevers. If you would
like to see it, and possibly use my photographs, please respond to (deleted email.)
Thank you,
Thumb Dog"

I'm a collector and I do have an original print of this "Boite de Nevers" I'm deeply interested to see if we are speaking about the same thing? Can I see your pictures? If interested I can send you recent photo I took of the original Nevers's brothel a few weeks ago.

Best regards,
Olivier Auger
Paris, France



My response;

Bonjour,

Yes, Olivier, we are speaking of the same thing. Attached please find some photographs of my paper model of La Boite de Nevers. These photos, and a description of my model appear at the end of a thread in an American paper modeling web site, Papermodelers.com Here is the address of the particular thread:

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/vintage-models/22853-special-house-model-4.html

I would very much like to see your photographs of the original building. Once I receive them, may I post them to the thread in Papermodelers.com? I know other modelers would be interested to see the actual building.

Thank you for your interest, Olivier.
Score and fold,
Thumb Dog




And Olivier’s response, 3/29/16

Hello,

First I want to thank you for your pictures. I'm myself a collector about the history of prostitution, and a long time ago I was lucky enough to find two copies of the original print of this « Boite de Nevers ».

When I got them I was mad, as everything I knew about was a small-scale reproduction I had seen in a 1952 book about the former and notorious French brothels (they were all legally shot down in 1946 after a former prostitute Marthe Richard pushed a law against them) the Boite de Nevers was described as a very rare scale model « purchased at large expense after WWII by a banker who was nostalgic of the good times ». So I was thinking it was almost unique, and was actually dreaming to get one, one day. Also, I was absolutely astonished that someone made a paper scale model of a brothel (for which customers?) and I did liked the idea a lot.

In fact, I knew nothing, as you'll discover below.

The first original copy I kept it, and the second one I sold it to a very famous an well-known erotica collector form a Middle-East Europe country who recently sold his erotica collection trough Christie's in London (but he kept that item which his not listed in the auction catalog).

For long I have been dreaming that one day I'll made a reprint of my copy (of course I didn't want to damage the original one) and take time to actually build it, and it was a shock to discover that it has been reprinted in 1974 and that other people, like you, actually took time to make it. I never did myself as I'm totally lacking any craft skill. I can't even cut a sheet of paper straight, alas.

You were so kind to show me your photos that I want to take time to tell you more about this « Boite de Nevers ».

First, you have to know that the very title « La boite de Nevers » is a play with « La botte de Nevers » (google that), which was the nickname of a legendary sword trademark attack ("la botte de Nevers" entails sticking your blade into a spot between your opponent's eyes) which everybody in France knew back then.

But more important is the story behind the publishing of this paper model of a brothel: there is a whole story!

Back then in 1904, there was « fire » in France as that year saw the official separation between the Government (public) and the Church (becoming a private things). There were a lot of political tensions, riots, between the reformist and the Catholics.

And then in Nevers (a small town in the center of France on the banks of the river Loire), in June 1904, a physician decided to throw a bachelor party to celebrate his upcoming wedding...in the brothel in the city. Why not? Brothels were legal at the time being and every major cities had one or more. But the thing is that the physician was accompanied by the local police officer, by few other notabilities (lawyers, judges, you get the idea), and by...Hippolyte Pigalle, the very Catholic and very rigid mayor of the city himself!

Opponents took notice, and soon it was a tremendous scandal as both parties made a national thing of what was at the beginning just a very local event, such a national scandal that at the end of the day the French President Emile Combes did remove the mayor of Nevers of his responsibilities! To give you an idea of the fuss back then an equivalent in the US would be the impeachment battle against Clinton in 1998...you see what I mean.

(For the sake of the record, Hippolite Pigalle was from the family of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, a famous 18th century sculptor who left his name to a quarter of Paris that a hundred years later became the very famous red-light district of the capital.)

So we are in the summer 1904 and just in the middle of this crisis « Le Rire » (The Laugh), a popular humor magazine aiming at laughing about almost everything, and which was also anti-Catholic, decided to publish that little bit special doll-house. Most of the characters were loosely based on « reality » and actually you can recognize the mayor on top of the stairs: he has wrapped the Tricolor round his body. And the doctor's cabinet on the ground level. (1) (2) (3)


Needless to say, everybody laughed out loud then when it was published! I'm just wondering how many readers actually built the house, there must have been some for sure, even if for sure the spouses didn't find it funny (it's more than 100 years ago...) (4)

I find it interesting when the « History with a big H joins the history with a small h » : here, there is a whole thing about religion, politics, social criticism, etc…being that paper doll-house publication.


As promised I'm attaching some shots of the most famous brothel house of Nevers; some found on Internet taken 10 years ago where the building still has it red painting all over (purpose of the painting was to be sure you won' t go there by mistake...) and some I took myself 3 months ago of the building being renovated (as it dates back to the 18th century) [edit : in fact not yet I realize these ones are still in my camera].

WARNING : I'm not sure yet in which brothel of the city the scandal happened, so I'm not sure that the building I'm showing you was related to it, as Nevers had 3 or 4 brothels at the time but at least it can give an idea of what a brothel looked like back then. The big number « 70 » in the scale model seems useless to help, as it doesn't match any address I have recorded in my listing of the French brothels back then. I'll also try to contact the local archive to research this.

You can publish all this, just mention my name if it's ok for you. Also, I'm not an English native so I do apologize for my writing, there must be lot of mistakes or incorrect words – do not hesitate to re-phrase or re-write!


(1) which was impossible : by law, the « maison close » buildings where entirely devoted to the sex trade and no one else, including physicians, would have been allowed to run a business inside; however, in some very large brothels, the physician had a dedicated office inside the building for the mandatory weekly visits (sanity checks of the women); but in small town like Nevers, with a max of 6 to 10 girls in each house, they actually had to go to the physician, and that weekly walk inside the city was an endless source of jokes, with the mother trying to keep their teenagers away from that « show » ; this to say that the purpose of the Doctor cabinet is to point to the groom who ignited the scandal, not a reality).

(2) by the way the statement « there had to be a doctor on site » that I just saw on your thread is a mistake: there had to be regular sanity check, but not inside the brothel; also the old couple in their sitting room are actually the Madam and her Husband, the business being run by the « Sous-maitresse » who is the one in black dress welcoming the visitors on top of the stairs)

(3) I also believe the head sculpture on top of the doctor's door to be a reference to Pigalle whose grandfather was very famous for that kind of work; all together there are many « plays » with La Boite de Nevers !

(4)I believe it was actually not meant to be built; Le Rire was a humor magazine, not a scale model magazine, the purpose was to get people laughing out loud; thus the many design mistakes and lack of mechanism (I read the posts by ridetheory)

Best regards,
Olivier Auger

[JohnM]

Cor! Now I suppose I'll have to rattle all that off whenever a blushing visitor picks up this little piece of history on my windowsill.

[SCEtoAUX]

Dang, that is some interesting stuff.

[southwestforests]

Originally Posted by Thumb Dog

looking for vintage models of fast moving, dangerous machines.

I dunno, man, some of that house's residents might just qualify

[ridetheory]

Originally Posted by Thumb Dog

(2) by the way the statement « there had to be a doctor on site » that I just saw on your thread is a mistake: there had to be regular sanity check, but not inside the brothel; also the old couple in their sitting room are actually the Madam and her Husband, the business being run by the « Sous-maitresse » who is the one in black dress welcoming the visitors on top of the stairs)

Thanks for the correction!