Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, Part 1: Dream of a Baroness

In late July 2012, my family and I had the fortune of travelling to south of France, staying in the seaside city of Nice and the ancient town of Aix-en-Provence. Prior to the trip, I had researched the local gardens in the book 1001 Garden You must See Before You Die.  On page 620 of the book, it listed Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild as one garden to see, however, did not attach any photo.  After arriving in Nice, I found a tourist brochure at our hotel about this villa and planned a day trip there with my family.

The Villa is located in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, about 40 minutes drive from Nice, and can be reached easily by taking #82 bus which was comfortable, fully air-conditioned and, best of all, only cost €1.  After being dropped off at the Passable stop, I found the entrance to the villa directly across the street.  Ah, the excitement of entering an unknown garden!

Here is a brief history of this villa and garden.  It is the dream of Charlotte Beatrix de Rothschild, who preferred to go by Beatrice.  Born in 1864 as an heiress of the London branch of the powerful Rothschild family, she married at age nineteen to Baron Maurice Ephrussi of Odessa (it was of course an arranged marriage) but was not lucky in love.  The couple eventually separated.  Beatrice traveled extensively on ships (the mode of travel back then) and collected art work, furniture, porcelain, textile, plants, birds and animals, among other things.  She was known as an eccentric lady but fun-loving and had a love for gambling.  She owned houses in Paris, Monaco and Cote d'Azure.


When her father passed away in 1904, she and her brother together inherited 700 million euros's worth of fortune.  What was a woman to do with so much money?  She bought a piece of land about 17 acres wide at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, and hired workers and architects to build her dream villa.

Even though Cap Ferrat is hot,dry and glorious in summer, it can be attacked by the mistral, a cold drying wind coming from Siberia in winter.  The land here is also very rocky and hilly.  How was one supposed to build a garden here?

It turned out, money talked.  After seven years and a succession of architects later, Beatrice finally had her villa.  The last architect who worked on the villa was Aaron Messiah (ironic name for being the one who salvaged this monstrous project). The villa was inaugurated "Ile-de-France," whose namesake was one large ship onboard which Beatrice sailed around the world. The villa, its courtyard and the portion of the garden designed in French style visible from the villa were completed in 1912, exactly 100 years ago from now.  The rest of the grounds, however, were unfinished.  Before Baronesse Beatrice's death in 1934 (she passed away from tuberculosis in Davos, Switzerland), she left the villa and gardens to Academie des Beaux-Arts de Institut de France, unwilling to let the beauty of her work being destroyed.  This was a great decision because we can still enjoy the fruits of her labor.

The Academie des Beaux-Arts hired Louis Marchand to finish the rest of the grounds and he did so, creating several themed gardens: Spanish Garden, Florentine Garden, Exotic Garden, Stone Garden, Provencal Garden and Rosarie. He enlisted the help of local plant collectors in sourcing some rare plants from around the world, many of them surviving until today.

Because the grounds are large and extensive, full of interesting nooks and crannies, this post will only discuss a small portion of it, namely, the front courtyard and French Garden. This portion was completed during the days of Beatrice.

View from the property.  One can see numerous yachts and cruise-liners docking in St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.

Cacti (Cereus peruvianus),palms (Phoenix canariensis or Canary Islands date palm in the left background, sago palm or Cyca revolutas)  and white roses near the entrance of the property.

Cereus peruvianus in bloom.

Courtyard of the villa.

Entrance of the villa.  The style is Spanish-Gothic, but also has incorporated elements of a Venetian palace.The color is "rose" in French, which is usually translated into pink.  It was said to be the favorite color of Baronesse Beatrice.

Oleanders and begonias provide shades of pink/red. Cypresses dot the ground of the villa.

Statue in the court yard.

Rear view of the villa (looking from the gardens)

View of the garden from the villa.  The French Garden today contains several fountains with musical water shows, numerous Aleppo pines and palms, and extends to the Temple of Love on a hill (center background).

Inside of the villa. This reminds me of Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, though grander.  I wonder who inspired whom?

Staircase inside the villa.

Another view of the villa from the garden.

Rosa 'Fragonard'.  Fragonard was a famed French painter from an aristocratic family who made their fortune making perfumes in the town of Grasse. He was one of Beatrice's favorite painters.  She amassed a large collection of his work.

Fountains and water feature an important role in the making of this garden.

Fontains performing water show with music in the background. Egyptian papyrus accents the fountains.

Waterlilies (Nymphaee x hybrida) in a fountain coexist in harmony with kois.

Temple of Love.

The lonely goddess standing in the Temple of Love.

The villa viewed from the Temple of Love. One notices mature citrus trees and box hedges in the French garden. 

This villa and its gardens were a sanctuary to Baronesse Beatrice, a place for her to escape from her unhappy marriage, and  they reflected her uncommon wealth and taste. This place reminded me of a sumptuously dressed and bejeweled lady who was lovely yet high-maintenance.  In Beatrice's days, she kept 37 gardeners, all decked out in sailors's attires, complete with red-pompom-tipped berets, who would spread out in ship-shape when she was in the mood.  Hey, aren't there some jokes about rich ladies and their gardeners? History does not tell us much about her, but I wish her some happiness in love.

It took me more than 90 minutes to leisurely stroll through the villa and all the gardens and feel the breezes whispering through the pine trees.  The gardens were absolutely stunning and so well-maintained that there wasn't a dead leaf or a weed in sight.  The property perched on top of the peninsula, reigning over the bay below.  The view was so gorgeous it could almost upstage the gardens. After my stroll, I enjoyed a delicious lunch in the tea room:  after all, no visit to French sites is complete without some gastronomical consumption.  But that and the rest of the gardens will be the topics of another post.

Happy gardening!