From my previous post you know that in 1905 Beatrice Rothschild was facing a tough time in her personal life and the incredible luck of inheriting a fortune.
Modern psychology insists that the best way to go through personal crisis is to unleash your creativity.
Beatrice did exactly that.
The result can be seen even a century later.
Villa Beatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild is built on the top of the hill in Cap Ferrat.
If you stay nearby, the best way to reach it is by foot.
You could drive but parking the car will test your skills.
From the reception you enter the magical world of la Belle Epoch.
She decided to build a villa where she could exhibit her art and furniture collections.
The building work started in 1905.
The hired architects could not get their heads round the fact that their designs should enhance the collections and not the other way around. Beatrice’s temperament also did not help.
As a result, the building of the villa lasted 7 years and 7 architects were involved.
Beatrice took an active part in the project. Anecdotes still circulate how European merchant and antique dealers were coming to the Beaulieu-sur-mer train station where Beatrice personally inspected their products and made deals straight from the platform.
The experts said that in Villa Ephrussi Beatrice brought together two beauties – the beauty of nature and the beauty of human creations.
The building resembles the architectural trends of 15th and 16th century Venice and Florence. Originally the villa was painted in okra.
It has a covered palazzo and the rest of the rooms show the owner’s taste for 18th century French furniture. There are many antique treasures such as Louise XVI furniture, Meissen porcelain and the art of Fragonard and Francois Boucher.
Actually, no one knows how the rooms were decorated during Beatrice’s time. All her belongings from her other homes in Paris and Monte Carlo were brought here after her death and the rooms were redecorated.
A wonderful surprise for the visitors is the chance to enjoy a lovely break in the restaurant located in the oval dining salon. The restaurant also has an outside area looking towards the “Sevres garden”.
Yes, Villa Ephrussi is also “a museum of gardens”.
Creating of the gardens became a Herculean work.
The rocks were dynamited and flattened. Soil was brought to plant trees and flowers.
The most impressive garden is the French garden in front of the villa. At its end Beatrice built “The Temple of Love”.
To shield the gardens from the strong Mistral wind Beatrice arranged thick glass panels, similar to the panels protecting the decks of the ships, along the terraces of the villa.
She lived her dream of cruising around the world even when she stayed in the villa!
The dream did not last long. Beatrice completed the villa in 1912 and in 1914 WW1 broke out.
The garden project stopped unfinished. Beatrice left the villa and never returned to it.
She died from tuberculosis in 1934 aged 69 at the Hotel d’Angletterre in Davos, Switzerland.
The gardens were restored and re-created after the war and today there are nine gardens displaying themes from different countries.
And that is the story of the villa of the rich eccentric woman with white hair and a broken heart.
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