Peekaboo

I can see you.

Hidden Villas Part 1.

There are so many hidden Cap d’Antibes villas that I thought they deserved a blog post of their own. Despite the high fences and metal gates there are still many villas which you can see if you are on foot. The best way to see them all is to take a stroll up to the Phare. From there you become aware of the diversity of the architecture here, it still amazes me how green the Cap is compared to Antibes beyond. I never get bored of the views and discover something new every time I leave the house.

There are modern villas next to old provencale ones and several abandoned ones too. Tucked away in the back streets are homes of all shapes and sizes. These homes have belonged to people from backgrounds as diverse as the villas themselves.

Below are just a small selection, which ones are your favourite?

Il y a tellement de villas cachées au Cap d’Antibes que je pensais qu’elles méritaient un blog. Malgré les hautes clôtures et les portes en métal, il existe encore de nombreuses villas que vous pourrez voir si vous êtes à pied.

La meilleure façon de les voir tous est de faire une promenade jusqu’au Phare. À partir de là, vous prenez conscience de la diversité de l’architecture ici, cela me surprend toujours de voir à quel point le Cap est vert comparé à Antibes au-delà.

Je ne m’ennuie jamais des vues et découvre quelque chose de nouveau chaque fois que je quitte la maison. Il y a des villas modernes à côté d’anciennes villas provençales et plusieurs villas abandonnées. Nichés dans les ruelles, des maisons de toutes formes et de toutes tailles. Ces maisons appartiennent à des personnes d’horizons aussi divers que les villas elles-mêmes.

Vous trouverez ci-dessous une petite sélection. Quelles sont vos préférées?

Probably the most talked about building on the Cap Le Provencale Hotel was built in 1926 by American millionaire Frank Jay Gould, son of the financier Jay Gould. At its opening the vast hotel, boasting a tennis club, restaurants and luxury suites, was considered the place to be on the Côte d’Azur.

Over the years Edith Piaf danced in Le Provençal’s ballroom, Coco Chanel and Marilyn Monroe are said to have lounged on the expansive terrace, and Ella Fitzgerald is rumored to have thrown open an upstairs window of the hotel to serenade the crowds below.

But by the 1970s it seemed to have fallen out of fashion and in 1976 the hotel closed its doors for good. Since then it has been left to slowly deteriorate despite many failed plans to re develop it. The present owner is the British mobile phones billionaire John Caudwell. Current plans are to turn it into 30 uber luxury apartments which will be completed in 2012/22.

We will have to wait and see if he succeeds in bringing this iconic art deco building back to its’ former glory.

The Chateau des Juan Les Pins. This incredible villa was built in around 1860. It was once the residence of queen Emilie of Saxony who was said to indulge in her hobby of embroidery here. In 1914 it was bought by Richard Hudnut, an American cosmetics giant.

The Chateau had more than twenty room plus servants quarters, apparently some of the walls are five feet thick! Rudolf Valentino stayed here twice with his wife and daughter as guests of Hudnut. Their bedroom was particularly luxurious with a black bed, black walls and black bathroom. The Chateau has since been re sold and divided up into apartments. I would love to step inside one of those apartments!