Wilfred Owen Forester's House
Early on november 4th, 1918 the soldier-poet Wilfred Owen lost his life during the crossing of the Sambre-Oise canal. It was in this forest house, now transformed into a work of art, that he spent his last night. In the cellar of the house Owen wrote his last letter to his mother – opening line: “My dearest mother, I shall call this place from which I am now writing ‘The Smoky Cellar of the Forester’s House ...” She received the letter on November 11th as all the church bells in Britain were ringing out to mark the signing of the Armistice.
Since the site was (and still is) frequented a lot by British visitors, The Wilfred Owen Association with the eager support of the Maire of Ors, Jacky Duminy, decided to call upon contemporary artist Simon Patterson to create something that would appeal to the universal nature of Owen’s poems. The plan was to take the Maison Forestière and turn it into a memorial. An English artist, Simon Patterson, was commissioned to do the original design, with the help of the French architect Jean-Christophe Denise. The result is spectacular and spectacularly simple as well. The all white house appears like a ‘bleached bone’ as Simon Patterson described it.
The project has profoundly transformed the building. The roof has been opened up as if it were a book and the interior dividing walls have been removed. The central room offers the chance to sit and listen to Owen’s poems, read by Sir Kenneth Branagh, as the texts are projected onto the walls around you. Outside a spiral staircase has been created, with extracts from Owen's last letter engraved onto its walls. At the foot is a door leading into the cellar which has been left as it was. Owen's last letter is full of humour and humanity, even if he does not conceal entirely the reality of the war.
Maison forestière Wilfred Owen in Ors, a white beacon surrounded by woods, is definitely a special place to visit. The place calls for silence, contemplation and remembrance.