"I’m struggling to understand how an original Le Corbusier building could be in that state of disrepair" was the comment from meltwaterfalls when I posted this photo of the Cité Frugès in our WhatsApp group. And I was shocked too when I visited Pessac in June 2021. To be fair, I must admit that the photo shows the worst example of disrepair. But there were a few more houses that appear to have been uninhabited for a long time and are in urgent need of renovation. And the photo also shows that the public areas, the streets and pavements are not well maintained, the whole neighbourhood looks a bit run down.
However, the majority of the housing units are inhabited, some would benefit from a new coat of paint but all in all most of them are in good condition. And renovation work is in progress in some of the dilapidated houses. Thus, there is some hope that the situation will improve in the near future. Unfortunately, the information office (4 rue le Corbusier) was closed when I visited. Therefore, I could not inquire why some of the houses are in this dilapidated state and whether extensive restoration work is planned.

The Cité Frugès was built as a workers' housing estate, commissioned by the industrialist Henri Frugès. It consists of 51 housing units in three streets in Pessac, a suburb of Bordeaux. Seven types of houses can be distinguished in Pessac, including "arcades" or "zigzags". The photo shows examples of the "gratte-ciel" (skyscraper) type. Initially, more than twice as many housing units were planned, but were not realised. One reason was because Frugès ran out of money for the complete realisation. Another reason was that the workers were not very enthusiastic about the residences, many refused to move in.

Even in a perfectly restored state, I would not rank the Cité Frugès among Le Corbusier's best works. So far, I have visited 14 of the 17 components, only Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Chandigarh and Casa Curuchet are missing. Four of these 14 buildings stand out: Villa Savoye, Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp, Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, and Sainte Marie de La Tourette in Éveux (see my first review below). In my opinion, these four would make a great WHS and would be sufficient to adequately represent the work of Le Corbusier.