Luxury developer Caudwell has unveiled a €27.25m trophy home at Le Provençal on the French Riviera, centred around the former ballroom and restaurant of one of the Côte d’Azur’s most celebrated hotels.
The five-bedroom Villa Zelda provides 6,458 sq ft of accommodation over two floors, together with 6,805 sq ft of private terraces and landscaped gardens and a 30ft swimming pool.
Its centrepiece is a restored double-height rotunda that once entertained guests including Winston Churchill, Coco Chanel, Charlie Chaplin, Pablo Picasso, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
The residence takes its name from Zelda Fitzgerald, who visited the former Hôtel Provençal with her husband, author F. Scott Fitzgerald.
FROM BALLROOM TO TROPHY HOME
Built in 1926-27 for American millionaire Frank Jay Gould and his wife Florence, the Hôtel Provençal closed in 1977 and remained dormant until Caudwell acquired it in 2014.
The developer has since transformed the 256,000 sq ft Art Deco building into the £300m-plus GDV Le Provençal development, comprising 35 apartments, penthouses and villas.
Villa Zelda’s former ballroom is now a grand reception room with 16ft-high arched French doors and an 18ft coffered ceiling.
The property also includes a family kitchen and breakfast room, cinema and media room, private massage and beauty salon, passenger lift and extensive staff and back-of-house accommodation.
Its principal bedroom suite has two walk-in dressing rooms and two marble bathrooms, while another four ensuite bedrooms are located upstairs.
‘ICONIC PIECE OF RIVIERA HISTORY’
Caudwell has worked with Parisian architecture and interior design house Affine Design on Le Provençal, while Villa Zelda’s interiors have been developed in collaboration with Invisible Collection.
John Caudwell, British businessman, philanthropist and founder of Caudwell, says: “Villa Zelda is one of the most important marquee residences to be unveiled at Le Provençal.
“It combines Art Deco design details, exceptional contemporary living spaces and outstanding heritage since the rotunda was formerly the ballroom/restaurant which entertained Royalty, Hollywood stars and famous Prime Ministers.
“‘Villa Zelda’ provides a discerning buyer with a totally unique opportunity to acquire an iconic piece of Riviera history that has been transformed by Caudwell into one of the finest trophy residences on the Côte d’Azur.”
ART DECO HERITAGE
Residents at Le Provençal have access to a cinema, health spa, children’s playroom, retail boutiques and six acres of landscaped gardens with a swimming pool.
The neighbouring Hôtel Belles Rives manages the development, providing concierge and lifestyle services, valet parking and access to facilities including its Michelin-starred restaurant, spa and private beach club.
“This spirit of artistic exchange and timeless beauty deeply shaped our vision for the project at Le Provençal.”
Isabelle Dubern Mallevays, co-founder of Invisible Collection, says: “Through this collaboration with Caudwell for such an iconic destination in the history of the Riviera, I became obsessed with the story of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s villa, La Pausa, just nearby, a place where she gathered artists and friends including Picasso, Visconti, Serge Lifar and Churchill, inviting them to stay for long periods to dream, create and exchange ideas freely.
“It felt almost like an avant-garde artists’ residence before its time.
“I was equally inspired by Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, one of the Riviera’s most poetic expressions of art de vivre.
“What makes the Riviera unique is this enduring dialogue between artists, patrons, collectors and the international jet set, a world where creativity, beauty and freedom have always co-existed naturally, from the Fondation Maeght to the CAB Foundation.
“This spirit of artistic exchange and timeless beauty deeply shaped our vision for the project at Le Provençal.”
Other homes at Le Provençal are priced from €4.05m, with its marquee residences starting from €15m.
