Inside Le Provençal: The most luxurious address on the French Riviera
The weather outside is frightful, so close your eyes and imagine yourself at this brand-new Antibes development in a former Art Deco hotel
Between plunging temperatures and the gale force winds of Storm Bert, the Great British Winter is well and truly underway. It’s the perfect time, therefore, for a bit of property-related escapism.
At the gateway to sunny Cap d’Antibes, on the Boulevard Edouard Baudoin, a gorgeous Art Deco address is underway. This is the transformation of the iconic Hôtel Provençal, built in 1926-27 by architect Lucien Stable. Le Provençal, which is brought to market by Caudwell (the developer behind the Mayfair property rumoured to be listed for £500 million, featured in Netflix’s Buying London), will comprise 35 residences including lateral apartments, penthouses and villas.
The hotel was originally built for American millionaire Frank Jay Gould and his socialite wife, Florence. Designer David Dellepiane was enlisted to curate sumptuous interiors that would eclipse the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco; they would eventually inspire F. Scott Fitzgerald’s last novel, Tender is the Night.
The cocktail bar at Hôtel Provençal regularly hosted Ernest Hemingway and Sir Winston Churchill; Charlie Chaplin called the hotel home from 1931-32 and, in 1937, Pablo Picasso paid a visit. Other guests included Marilyn Monroe, Estée Lauder and Coco Chanel, who would don what she called ‘beach pyjamas’ during her stays, which in turn would eventually popularise the wearing of trousers for women.
Post-World War Two, the likes of Jackie Kennedy, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Tom Jones, Ella Fitzgerald and the Rolling Stones stayed at Hôtel Provençal. By the 1970s, however, it had lost its shine, and when it closed for refurbishment in 1977 it never reopened. In 2014, the hotel was acquired by Caudwell; founder John Caudwell says of the development: “Le Provençal is a magnificent landmark building which is being sensitively refurbished… The heritage has been skilfully combined with beautiful contemporary residences with the latest specification, providing stylish contemporary living.”
To restore the hotel, the developer worked alongside architecture and interior design house Affine Design, which has renovated the likes of the Hôtel de Crillon, Hôtel de Paris and Hôtel Shangri-La Paris. Le Provençal’s façade, with its French stonework and intricate mouldings, has been refurbished, with existing balconies extended and new ones installed.
You enter via an arched porte cochère topped with three chandeliers. Inside, discover 10ft ceilings, marble flooring with monograms inlaid in bronze, and an octagonal lobby recreating the original salon from the 1920s. There are fluted marble pillars, bronze cheetah sculptures, and a petal motif ceiling installation encircling a gold leaf dome. It really is like walking into a scene from The Great Gatsby.
The foyer leads into a rotunda, where the walls, pilasters and doors are inspired by the geometric pattern of the Art Deco style. Etched bronze doors open to the lift lobby, and in turn the apartments and penthouses.
The accommodations here, which stretch up to 877 square metres, all offer outside terraces with views of the sea; most also boast Alpine panoramas. The marquee residences comprise three garden villas with terraces and swimming pools. Located across the eighth to 11th floors of the building are three six-bedroom penthouses, each with 527 square metres of private terraces. They also boast private mosaiced swimming pools and panoramic views across Cap d’Antibes, Nice, Monaco and Cannes.
Amenities abound at Le Provençal: a 16-seat cinema is decorated with geometric styling, stepped flooring and walls, and LED feature lighting. A 200 square metre spa – home to a gym, hammam, sauna, treatment room, fitness studio, separate women-only steam room and sauna, and a tinted spa pool with a feature waterfall – is topped by an Ottoman-style domed ceiling. The address also benefits from a restaurant, a children’s playroom, numerous retail boutiques, garages, six acres of landscaped gardens and a 30-metre swimming pool.
Completion for Le Provençal is slated for late 2025 and, judging by what has already launched, this landmark development is set to draw the global elite in the same way as its predecessor.
Apartments are priced from €4.5-8 million (approx. £3.7-6.6 million), with marquee residences from €15 million (approx. £12.5 million), caudwell.com
