An early-20th-century Mediterranean villa to be renovated in a commanding position with a sea view, nestled in 4,200m² of tree-dotted grounds in the t
An early-20th-century Mediterranean villa to be renovated in a commanding position with a sea view, nestled in 4,200m² of tree-dotted grounds in the town of La Croix-Valmer.
At the start of the 20th century, La Croix-Valmer and Cavalaire were two hamlets tied to Gassin, a wine-growing town that became separate in 1934. Its splendid beaches of fine sand and its coast of coves draw many visitors to this magnificent spot, which can be endlessly explored. Many coastal paths offer pleasant walks that lead to the famous Ramatuelle beach. And the nearby Îles d'Or islands, part of the Port-Cros regional nature park, invite you to escape across the water from the beaches of the WWII Provence landings to a preserved environment where you can marvel at flora and fauna. The property is a 25-minute walk from the beaches of La Croix-Valmer and you can reach the town centre in 12 minutes on foot. Toulon train station is 1 hour and 15 minutes away, Toulon-Hyères airport is around 1 hour from the property and you can reach Nice airport in roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes. The A8 motorway is nearby too.
From the town centre of La Croix-Valmer, a small secondary road snakes between grand villas - tokens of an era when tourism revealed one of the most beautiful spots on the French Riviera. Beyond a bend, a discreet tree-lined track leads up to a large gate - the property's main entrance. Once you have gone through this gate, a drive takes you to a parking area in the shade of age-old trees and to a garage in the eastern section of the house's semibasement. The edifice faces south-west. It stands on the edge of the property, in the plot's north-west corner. This frees up a vast area of the garden at a lower level. The facade is coated with white rendering and it has a granite base course. It forms an L shape with a left-hand gable wall that protrudes slightly beneath a roof of green tiles. There is a raised ground floor and a first floor. This facade is punctuated with quoins in a notched pattern and windows of varied shapes set in surrounds with mouldings that have different motifs. On the top level, there is a balcony of finely carved wood that offers an unrivalled sea view and vistas of the lush surroundings. A small flight of steps leads up to the porch of the main entrance door, which takes you into the raised ground floor. A lacquered canopy crowns the porch, which has a glazed wall with tinted edges and wooden framing that recalls the other timber embellishments of the elevations and roofing and that give the edifice stylistic coherence. The eaves are supported with solid braces of wood crafted into curves and painted in the same yellow tone as the window frames, balustrades and shutters. The rear of the house is separated from the front by a small inner court that brings natural light into the adjoining rooms. The rear section is lower in height than the front section. Different roofs of red tiles are juxtaposed upon it. One of them crowns a polygonal tower. This rear section gives the house depth and mostly contains service rooms.
The villa
The ground floor
The spacious entrance hall with a floor of cement tiles and walls and ceilings painted with birds and flowers creates an ambience that is both colourful and formal. This atmosphere immediately gives an impression of the rest of the interior. From this hallway, double doors lead into a lounge on the left and a dining room on the right. At the back of this hall, there is a marble staircase with a wrought-iron balustrade painted white and a wooden handrail. It curves up to the first floor. On the ground floor, the rooms are spacious and the ceiling height reaches four metres. In the lounge, three windows close together look out at the garden. The central window is higher than the other two, which are symmetrical. Through these windows, you can admire a sea ...
