Former ballroom takes centre stage in €27.25mn Riviera residence

At COMO, we're incredibly proud to have played a part in bringing Le Provençal to life through our interactive sales experience. While our work sits at the very beginning of a development's sales journey, there is something especially rewarding about seeing a vision become reality. Having visited Le Provençal during its early stages, when it was little more than its original structure waiting to be transformed, it's remarkable to see the craftsmanship and attention to detail that have brought this iconic residence to life.

Image taken from site visit in November 2023 of Villa Zelda

Watching a project evolve into a completed landmark is a reminder of the collaboration, ambition and expertise behind every development we work on. Seeing Villa Zelda unveiled is a fantastic milestone, and we are delighted to celebrate the completion of one of the Côte d'Azur's most extraordinary luxury residences.

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.

By John Caudwell, Founder of Caudwell

Le Provençal, its luxury hotel-to-resi scheme on the Côte d’Azur: a €27.25m villa built around the former ballroom of the legendary Riviera hotel.

Known as Villa Zelda, the five-bed residence comes with the run of the building’s original doubleheight rotunda, where Florence Gould once entertained the Côte d’Azur set and where guests over the years included Winston Churchill, Coco Chanel, Ernest Hemingway, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Kennedy.

Rather than carving up the space, Caudwell has left the rotunda as the focal point of the home, transforming the former ballroom into a vast reception room beneath an 18ft coffered ceiling and framed by towering arched French doors.

Villa Zelda is an exceptional statement residence at Le Provençal and Caudwell has collaborated closely with Invisible Collection, the leading artisan furniture emporium and design firm, and Luma AI, global leaders in cutting edge visual content creation, to make the beautiful and stunning living spaces come alive.

By Anna Durkin, Director of Marketing at Caudwell

Overall, the there’s around 6,500 sq ft of accommodation, including five bedroom suites, a cinema room, private massage suite, and more than 6,800 sq ft of gardens and terraces – with space for a private pool.

The developer worked with Affine Design – the Parisian studio behind the renovation of hotels including the Hôtel de Crillon, Hôtel de Paris and Hôtel Shangri-La Paris – on the design scheme. Named after Zelda Fitzgerald, the marquee residence is the latest release at the former Hôtel Provençal, which Caudwell acquired in 2014 before transforming it into a 35-home development overlooking Cap d’Antibes.

Alongside the set of apartments, penthouses and villas, the scheme offers a suite of hotel-style amenities, with concierge and lifestyle services provided by neighbouring institution Hôtel Belles Rives.

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.

By Isabelle Dubern Mallevays, co-Founder of Invisible Collection Read the full article on Prime Resi.