Designated as a historical monument in 1993.
The leading lights of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Ciboure, which were built in the 1870s to ensure the safe passage of the port, became emblematic features of the bay when, in 1937, contrary to the usage at the time of commissioning a civil engineer from the French public organisation for lighthouses and beacons (Service public des Phares et Balises), the works to raise the leading lights was entrusted to an architect, André Pavlovsky. The county architect, basing his building on the existing assembly, suggested erecting a modernist building drawing inspiration from the Neo-Basque architectural movement. As a part of the guardrail for the old top terrace was removed at the eastern corner, the new tower has a slim profile, and its recesses increase the sense of verticality even further. On the northern façade, the light plays with the corners of the balcony, which looks like the stem of a ship, this feature underlining astutely the fact that the building is destined to be used by the sea. In 1973, the leading lights became automated and the era of lighthouse keeping, which had seen a succession of three families of keepers, ended. The Pavlovsky leading lights are an unusual creation among the French lighthouses and beacons as well as being the emblems of the towns of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Ciboure nowadays.