The former Post Office, a home passed down through time.
Before becoming our home, this building housed the Vic-sur-Seille post office. From old postcards to renovation photographs, discover the traces of its past and the new story we have been writing since 2022.
The first connection with the past is a postcard. It shows a five-bay façade, arched openings, the gateway and the corner statue. Compared with the house today, these details make the building recognisable.
This identification relies on comparing the images. Above all, the card bears a valuable inscription: “Kaiserliches Postamt”, the imperial post office. It preserves evidence of the house’s postal use long before we arrived.
The façade on a colour postcard marked “Wich in Lothringen” and “Vic s. S.”. The colour belongs to the document; it does not prove the historical colours of the façades. Source: Patavic, “La poste”, 30 August 2018. Original photographer unidentified.
View the postcard’s provenance · The photograph’s date is not established. The colour reproduction appears in Patavic’s article cited beneath the image.
02 · The imperial post office
The house in the history of Moselle.
The German inscription and the name “Wich in Lothringen” place this image within the history of changing borders. The Treaty of Frankfurt of 10 May 1871 confirmed the annexation of Alsace and present-day Moselle by the German Empire. The imperial sign belongs to this historical context. Departmental Archives of Meurthe-et-Moselle
On the postcard, the post office stands along the street between neighbouring houses. The façade is already recognisable, but the building has a very different use. The image shows its connection with the postal service; it does not establish when the office opened there.
03 · The war years
Another view of the neighbourhood.
A second postcard shows soldiers, bags and a horse-drawn vehicle. It evokes the Feldpost, the German military postal service. In a discussion published in June 2013, collectors place the scene in Vic-sur-Seille near a building neighbouring the post office, and report a postcard dated 18 April 1916. Read the identification discussion
The Feldpost scene in the neighbourhood, also shown in the collectors’ discussion cited in the story. The date reported for the postcard does not establish the photograph’s date with certainty. Source: Patavic, “La poste”, 30 August 2018. Original photographer unidentified.
This scene widens our view to the neighbourhood and its activity during the First World War. It accompanies the history of the place without providing a confirmed view of our house’s façade. The postcard’s date also cannot establish exactly when the photograph was taken.
Other views of the former post office
These two postcards show the façade from different viewpoints. The gateway, windows and people give a sense of the office’s place in the street.
The façade and gateway on a sepia postcard. Inscription: “Kaiserliches Postamt”. Source: Patavic, “La poste”, 30 August 2018. Original photographer unidentified.The post office and street, with people gathered outside the façades. The postcard bears the words “Wich (Lothr.) · Postamt”. Source: Patavic, “La poste”, 30 August 2018. Original photographer unidentified.
04 · The postal service changes
From the old office to the municipal postal agency.
The façade with La Banque Postale signs. A view more recent than the old postcards, whose exact date remains unknown. Source: Patavic, “La poste”, 30 August 2018. Original photographer unidentified.
More recent documents tell another story: changes to the town’s postal service. In December 2004, Vic-sur-Seille appeared in a question by Jean-Louis Masson to the Senate about the future of Moselle’s post offices. In March 2005, the ministerial reply presented municipal agencies as one way to maintain service. This debate preceded the local reorganisation; it does not establish the office’s closure date. Senate question and reply
On 29 August 2018, Grain de Sel reported the opening of a public services centre in Vic-sur-Seille. The article referred to the disappearance of the old office and announced a postal agency for 3 September. The service changed location and organisation. Grain de Sel, 29 August 2018
Today, the municipal postal agency is at the town hall on place Philippe-Leroy. The former post office retains a visible reminder of its past on the courtyard side: the “Télégraphe · Poste · Téléphone · Vic-sur-Seille” sign. La Poste on the municipal website · La Poste directory
The “Télégraphe · Poste · Téléphone · Vic-sur-Seille” sign photographed on the façade. Its manufacture and installation dates are unknown. Source: Patavic, “La poste”, 30 August 2018. Original photographer unidentified.
05 · Since 2022
From the former post office to our home.
We bought the building in 2022. It marked the beginning of La Villa de Vic, our life in this house and a renovation that continues through successive projects.
The façade, gateway, stone and spaces give the place its character. Renovating this house means working with that historic presence while adapting the rooms for life today. The renovation is now part of its history.
The rediscovered postcards give the renovation photographs another layer of meaning. Looking at the house, I can also place it within an old image in which its name and purpose were different. The place changing here has already known other uses.
I share this new chapter through the projects, renovation choices and images of our everyday life. La Villa de Vic is the name of this adventure, and this website records it.
A man in uniform beside a bicycle and a satchel. I do not know his identity or where or when the photograph was taken; this image cannot reliably link him to the Vic-sur-Seille post office. Source: Patavic, “La poste”, 30 August 2018. Original photographer unidentified.
A document awaiting identification
A face among the rediscovered images.
Among the documents shared here is this portrait beside a bicycle. It records the details of clothing, a satchel and a bicycle, but its story remains to be discovered.
I do not know who this man is or where the photograph was taken. I present it as a document awaiting identification, without assigning him a role or a confirmed connection with our house.
The past in the present
Details that endure through time.
The façade, gateway and courtyard spaces: my photographs help identify features visible in the old documents.
The façade and gateway seen from the street · photograph by FranckThe pillars, gateway ornaments and corner statue · photograph by FranckThe house seen from the courtyard · photograph by Franck
Saint Gabriel, patron of telecommunications.
Franck, the owner of the house, identifies the statue in the corner niche as Saint Gabriel.
In Christian tradition, Gabriel is an archangel and a messenger of God. The Gospel of Luke recounts his announcement to Zechariah of the birth of John the Baptist, then to Mary of the birth of Jesus: the Annunciation (Luke 1:11–38).
On 12 January 1951, Pope Pius XII proclaimed him heavenly patron of telecommunications and those working in the field. His role as a messenger explains this patronage: the text refers to the telegraph, telephone and transmission by radio waves.
This symbolism echoes the house’s postal past and its “Telegraph · Post · Telephone” sign. It does not establish the statue’s date or the circumstances of its installation.
Identification and sources
Franck supplied the identification as Saint Gabriel on 3 October 2026. The municipal guide mentions a Virgin and Child in a corner niche of the ensemble at numbers 2 and 4; this discrepancy remains to be clarified. The sources below document Gabriel’s role and patronage, but do not identify the house’s statue.
Before the post office, a history still to uncover.
The town’s heritage guide dates numbers 2 and 4 rue Jules-Wolff to the eighteenth century. At number 4, it describes an entrance decorated with Louis XVI-style flame urns. Municipal heritage guide, September 2025 This dating provides a documentary reference point. I do not know the exact construction year, the first owners or when the post office was established here.
The postcard seller’s proposed date of 1919 does not establish when the photograph was taken. The manufacture date of the French sign and the exact day the old office closed also remain unknown.
Notarial deeds, cadastral registers and postal archives may fill in these stages. This account currently relies on the documents presented here and my experience as owner since 2022.
Sources & documents
Consulted on 2 October 2026. The specifications apply to the references cited.
The town’s heritage guide identifies numbers 2 and 4 as an eighteenth-century ensemble. At La Villa de Vic, that character is visible in the arrangement of the façade and the decoration of the entrance.
A five-bay façade
Five vertical rows of openings give rhythm to the street façade. Stone surrounds, arched openings and the smaller windows on the top floor form its composition.
A gateway with flame-shaped ornaments
Two stone pillars frame the metal gate leading into the courtyard. The municipal guide describes their sculpted finials as Louis XVI-style flame urns, or pots-à-feu.
Saint Gabriel at the corner of the house
Franck identifies the statue in the corner niche as Saint Gabriel, the archangel and patron of telecommunications. The local planning document lists the niche and statue among the building’s notable features.
Sources and reading notes
The municipal guide dates the ensemble to the eighteenth century and describes the gateway. Franck identified Saint Gabriel on 3 October 2026. The guide mentions a Virgin and Child in a corner niche of this ensemble: this discrepancy remains to be clarified. The date of the statue shown here is not established.
Entry 36 of the local planning report identifies the façades, rhythm of openings, surrounds, niche with statue and pilasters at number 4.
The exact construction year, architect and successive alterations remain to be established. These two documents do not describe the construction of the walls or roof structure.
The façade and gateway seen from the street · photograph by FranckThe pillars, gateway ornaments and corner statue · photograph by Franck
Franck & Eva · La Villa de Vic
A home, projects and plenty to learn.
Behind La Villa de Vic is a lived-in home and the people shaping it.
Franck & Eva
About us
A home to make our own.
La Villa de Vic is first and foremost our home. We are renovating it at our own pace, hoping to preserve its character and make it a place where we love to gather, cook and welcome guests.
Franck
Former construction site manager, curious and hands-on.
Franck working on the apartment
I like understanding how things are made. On a renovation, I try things, look for solutions and learn by doing. Wood, insulation, interiors, reuse: I have a hand in a bit of everything, without claiming to know it all.
I share what I try, the choices I make and what I learn along the way. And sanding drywall? Honestly, it’s the job I like least!
The house, day to day
A project we live in.
The renovation is happening in a home that remains a place to live. We cook, spend time together and welcome guests here. The projects develop as needs and ideas arise.
On this site and on social media, I mainly share the work, the materials and the solutions I try at the Villa.
Our project
Preserve the place. Prepare the next chapter.
We want to make this former Post Office a living home, with spaces for our family and apartments to welcome visitors. The first apartment is under renovation.
Here, ecological renovation should take a practical form: preserve and repair where possible, reuse materials, improve comfort and choose solutions suited to the building. The project progresses with the work, with a desire to keep the soul of the house.
