The late Elizabeth Taylor was known for many things including her incredible cinematic career, her eight marriages, an extensive collection of jewellery — and a fabulous wardrobe of kaftans.
It’s her signature floaty gowns that provided the inspiration for the interiors of an extravagant penthouse under construction at the Hôtel Provençal on the French Riviera.
The Jazz Age icon is currently being redeveloped into 39 high-end residences in a £300 million-plus project by British developer Caudwell. Founded by billionaire John Caudwell, the developer is also the mastermind of “London's most luxurious address” — a £2 billion 1 Mayfair apartment complex.
There will be three penthouses occupying the eighth to eleventh floors of the Art Deco former hotel, each with six bedrooms, a dedicated resident’s lift, and top-level security. Two of the penthouses will be triplexes, flanking a central four-storey penthouse that will include a 14-metre rooftop swimming pool. Prices will start at €31 million (£26.3 million) and go up to €40 million (£34 million).
The development aims to recapture the glamour of the era when the Hôtel Provençal was the celebrity hotspot of the Cap d ’Antibes, when F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Picasso, Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin all hung out at the Mediterranean resort.
Caudwell is working with Parisian architecture and design house Affine Design to create the layout and interiors, which will reference Taylor’s kaftans — and the all-white holiday wardrobe of the Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson
Taylor first visited the Hôtel Provençal in 1949 when she was just 17, and was photographed on the promenade by Willy Rizzo. She would return to the Cap d’Antibes in 1962 while conducting an affair with fellow actor Richard Burton. The couple married twice, in 1964 and 1975, and honeymooned on the French Riviera both times.
The principal bedroom of one of the penthouse bedrooms draws its pink hues and patterns from the kaftans Taylor wore during a visit in 1967. Pink silk brocade wallpaper and a curving sofa will be accented by a gold four-poster bed.
Shades of ivory in the living areas are inspired by the holiday wardrobe of Simpson, who reportedly arrived with a set of monogrammed luggage stuffed with all-white outfits from Chanel and Dior in 1936 — as the American divorcee and the one-time King waited out the abdication crisis.
Hôtel Provençal was also the backdrop to another scandalous affair in 1938, when Marlene Dietrich and Joseph Kennedy are rumoured to have taken adjoining suites.
Residents of the new penthouses will be able to soak up all the 20th-century hedonistic history on their sunny private terraces and loggias, with access to the development’s amenities that will include a spa, a cinema, and a cocktail bar. The penthouses will include staff accommodation and six car parking space.
“With their private terraces, swimming pools and far-reaching panoramic views the penthouses at Le Provençal are the jewels in the crown of this luxurious Caudwell development which is the finest residential scheme on the French Riviera,” said Lars Christiaanse, group director of sales at Caudwell.
“These penthouses offer a truly unique, not-to-be-repeated, opportunity to buy an outstanding home and long-term investment.”
The French Riviera is seeing something of a billionaire boom, according to research from Savills French Riviera and Sotheby’s International Realty. Favourable exchange rates and uncertainty around the US elections are fuelling the spending spree.
“Demand for properties on the Riviera, particularly in premium areas, has soared since the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Peter Illovsky, director, Sotheby’s International Realty (Côte d’Azur). “The market is led by international buyers, notably Americans who have a historical connection to the area.”
American billionaire Ken Griffin is leading the charge, having just completed on a $90 million (XX) two-acre estate on the waterfront in St Tropez.
“In Cap d’Antibes, the number of prime residential property transactions for homes valued at over €5million has doubled in the last two years,” said Alex Balkin of Savills French Riviera. “They are typically in their 40s and 50s and work in the financial or tech sectors.”
UK buyers are most predominant in the €2 million to €10 million price bracket, reports Beauchamp Estates France, while the €15 million plus and major trophy homes go to wealthy buyers from America and the Middle East.
