In its heyday, the Hotel Le Provencal in Antibes in the south of France was the toast of the coast and from the 1920s to the 1970s served as a magnet for rich socialites, film actors, pop stars and rich financiers.
Now, after a long period of lying derelict, the building which was once the epicentre of glamour on the French Riviera is being restored to its former glory and more.
Sitting at the gateway to Cap d’Antibes, only 19km from Nice, the building that housed the former 1920s Art Deco hotel overlooking the Mediterranean is being transformed into a new luxury address worthy of its A-list past.
Thirty-nine residences, including lateral apartments, penthouses and villas, will be part of the revamped Le Provencal, with a cinema, health spa with gymnasium, spa pool, Hamman, sauna, yoga room and fitness studio, restaurant, retail boutiques, garages and landscaped gardens that include a 30-metre swimming pool.
In addition, a short distance away a new ultra-prime villa has been created on what used to be Le Provencal's tennis club.
This is the largest and only newly built residential estate on the exclusive Cap d’Antibes, where a 1.6-hectare site has been redeveloped into a magnificent modern villa with wonderfully landscaped gardens overlooking the Port de l’Olivette.
Glamorous past, future luxury
Opened in 1927, the rich and famous flocked to the Hotel Le Provencal from all over the world – Hollywood stars and US authors rubbed shoulders with European royalty, aristocrats and politicians.
Coco Chanel and Estee Lauder were regular visitors, while the setting inspired F Scott Fitzgerald to write his last novel, Tender is the Night.
Ernest Hemingway and Winston Churchill were known to frequent the hotel's famous cocktail bar and Charlie Chaplin essentially lived at Le Provencal in 1931 while taking a break after the filming of City Lights.
After the Second World War, Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe stayed at the hotel and as the era of pop music emerged, the guest list included Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Tom Jones.
In 1960, Ella Fitzgerald came to the celebrated local music festival, Jazz a Juan, and serenaded onlookers below from her balcony window. Later, one of the last groups of guests included the Rolling Stones in 1976.
It is difficult to overemphasise the effect Le Provencal had on developing the glamorous image of the French Riviera, as the area became known worldwide as the luxury playground of royalty, film stars and billionaires.
The lifestyles of the rich and famous of the French Riviera were celebrated in the fictional character of Marie Claire from Peter Sarstedt's 1969 song the Where Do You Go to My Lovely, who not only wore clothes from the luxury fashion house Balmain, had diamonds and pearls in her hair and a racehorse that the Aga Khan gave her, but she also spent summers in Juan-les-Pins, the same town near Antibes that played host to the Hotel Le Provencal.
While the 10-storey Hotel Le Provencal was originally built to eclipse the Hotel de Paris nearly 50km away in Monaco, by the late 1970s it was a shadow of its former self.
In 1977 it closed for refurbishment but never reopened. For various reasons, successive developers failed to resurrect the grand building, once the heart of luxury on the Cote d'Azur, and for many years the historic landmark remained a derelict shell.
But during this time, the British billionaire and luxury property developer, John Caudwell, noticed the building's potential.
"I’d cycled past it for 20-30 years, and then one day in the early 2000s some action took place and I thought ‘wow, that’s really good’ because you can see what an iconic building it is," the former owner of the British mobile phone retailer Phones4U told The National.
But it was not until a few years later, after the global financial crisis, that Mr Caudwell made his move and acquired the site.
"When it started to be refurbished, that was very exciting and all of a sudden, when 2008 came, all the people went off-site and so the next time I cycled past it was derelict.
“On that fateful day, we decided to call the number that was on the board outside it and we ended up owning it."
That was only the first step in the journey to bring a once-glittering gem of the French Riviera back to life, with the restoration of the 256,000 square foot (23,800 sq m) main building and landscaped gardens into a new £300 million-plus (gross development value) luxury residential address.
"As part of the restoration, the building’s grand rendered facade, which has French stonework and elegant mouldings, is being completely refurbished. The existing balconies are being extended and new balconies installed, creating generously sized areas for outside living and entertaining."
No detail has been left out and no expense spared to restore the interiors to their Art Deco glory, including features such as sculptured wall panels with bas-relief, painted frescoes and ceilings with stepped borders.
But such luxurious quality and finishes are extremely important to Mr Caudwell and his property company is well-known for creating outstanding developments, including one in London's Mayfair.
"It’s been a labour of love,” he told The National.
"When I do these buildings, I have the number one objective of making them best in class – the most prestigious and the most beautiful in the area. That costs money and time.
“So the costs go up and the profit tends to come down, but what we have now is something that’s going to be absolutely magnificent that I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life.”
The Hotel Le Provencal is scheduled to be completed by early next year, but the first apartments have already been sold. Prices range from €4 million ($4.37 million) up to €8 million ($8.7 million), for three and four-bedroom apartments.
There are several marquee residences within Le Provencal, including the Garden Villa and Garden House, a pair of duplexes which have their own swimming pools, garages and staff accommodation.
Prices for the marquee residences start at €15 million.
The crowning glory at Le Provencal are the three triplex penthouses, each with its own mosaic-lined private swimming pool, commanding spectacular panoramic vistas of the French Riviera, including views of Cap d’Antibes, Nice, Monaco and Cannes. Prices for these pinnacles of luxury living are available on application.
"Interest from buyers in this Caudwell project has been extremely high and we have already forward-sold, off-plan, almost 25 per cent of the apartments, with huge global interest and buyers from countries including France, the UK, Northern Europe, Germany, the US and Asia," said Lars Christiaanse, group director of sales at Caudwell.
"We believe that the marquee residences and penthouses will also attract buyers from the Middle East, alongside American buyers wanting the very best trophy homes on the French Riviera.
"As a place to live, Le Provencal is the ideal luxury waterfront address offering easy access to the beautiful bays of Cap d’Antibes, Monaco, Cannes, St Tropez and the Alpes-Maritime.”
Domaine de la Belle Etoile
However, John Caudwell's odyssey into ultra-prime property development on the French Riviera did not stop at Hotel Le Provencal.
As part of the deal to buy the hotel, an area about 1.6km down the coast road was also part of the 2014 purchase, because it used to be the tennis club of the Hotel Le Provencal.
Caudwell has now transformed the 1.5 hectare Domaine de la Belle Etoile site into a spectacular oasis of luxury living, with 16,040 sq ft (1,490 sq m) of accommodation over the main villa and three guest cottages, and beautifully landscaped gardens all enclosed by a gated entrance and private driveway.
The meticulously designed main villa, or La Belle Etoile, has six bedroom suites, five reception rooms, two kitchens, study, cinema, spa, gym, games room, show garage and staff accommodation.
The plentiful sunlight and breezes of the French Riviera are given full access through La Belle Etoile thanks to the glass and colonnaded facade, with the living spaces opening on to covered loggias and outside terraces.
There is also a health and well-being spa with a mirrored studio for those wanting to indulge in Pilates or a barre workout, a treatment room and beauty salon, as well as a steam room, sauna, ice room, chromotherapy sensory shower and gym.
The first guesthouse, called Villa Celeste, once served as tennis clubhouse of the Hotel Le Provencal and now has two guest bedroom suites leading into an open-plan living and dining area and kitchen, all surrounded by generous outdoor terraces.
The second guesthouse, Villa Capella, is a restored fisherman's cottage with one bedroom and a well-positioned terrace that overlooks the rest of the estate and the bay.
Currently under construction, the self-contained five-bedroom Villa Marguerite is the third guesthouse on the Domaine de la Belle Etoile and is available by separate negotiation.
While the main villa and the guesthouses ooze luxury at every turn, including a glass-sided 23-metre swimming pool, what really stands out for Mr Caudwell at the estate are the gardens.
"Belle Etoile has the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen in any property, anywhere," he told The National.
"It really blows me away and I don’t often say that about anything I do."
There is a lot to be blown away by – the calming scent of the lavender in the olive orchard, the serenity of the hidden meditation area and the small, private vineyard, as well as the charming rose garden and the large chef's garden where citrus, herbs and organic vegetables are already in abundance.
In addition, the grounds are big enough to have at least one tennis court, a basketball court or a helipad (subject to planning permission) and parking for 16 cars.
While the Domaine de la Belle Etoile is merely a short drive from Europe’s largest yacht marina at Port Vauban, the estate counts the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, regularly voted one of the best in the world, among its neighbours.
For the discerning buyer, there isn't anything like Domaine de la Belle Etoile on the market in the south of France at the moment, according to Mr Christiaanse.
"There's nothing to rival the specification or thoughtfulness of this estate’s design," he said.
"Buyers can arrive by helicopter, sports car or yacht, with easy access to luxury shopping, beach resorts and skiing all within an hour’s distance.”
Although separated by only 1.5km, the two projects, the Le Provencal and Belle Etoile, are two different buying propositions, according to Mr Caudwell.
He designed the west-wing penthouse at Le Provencal himself, with lots of bedrooms and space, because he "wanted a really beautiful place down at the coast".
"It took so long to build I ended up buying in Monaco," he told The National.
"But if I was moving back here I’d be really torn between that penthouse and Belle Etoile.
“They’ve got very, very different uses.
"The penthouse apartment is amazing with phenomenal facilities and lots of heritage and it’s lock up and leave, but Belle Etoile is just stunning.
“Belle Etoile is a real home to be lived in forever, full time, or it’s a very luxurious holiday villa."
