The villa was built in 1961 upon the old terraces, edged with dry-stone retaining walls, of the Château de Castellaras estate, lower down from the chateau. It was designed by the famous French architect Jacques Couëlle. In fact, the edifice was originally designed for the Aga Khan. Its design bears witness to Couëlle’s architectural philosophy: forms following the land’s relief and straight geometric lines avoided. The dwelling faces south and follows the slope of the land, looking out at a sweeping vista of sky, sea and Provençal hills. From its different terraces, you can admire a panoramic view of the undulating landscape and the sparkling Mediterranean sea. Beyond a wrought-iron gate, a few steps lead up through a Mediterranean garden dotted with cypresses, oleanders and shrubs. The villa gradually comes into view as you wander along the paths and up through the different levels of the garden. It stands out for its successive rounded forms and its thick, uneven walls coated with pale rendering. The elevations form continuous curves. They are punctuated with arched openings of different sizes. The roofs of barrel tiles are of different heights. The building's hillside position creates several entrances, both from the lower parts of the garden and the upper terraces. Inside, the spaces are spread out over three levels, centred upon a cavernous double-height lounge and a monumental staircase. The property is part of the private, secure Castellaras estate, which covers around 13 hectares. The commonhold owners here enjoy use of two swimming pools, four tennis courts and a fitness room.

The villa

The first level
You step into an entrance hall with curved walls. This hallway connects to a kitchen on one side and to a dining room on the other. The dining room leads to a double-height lounge – a vast reception room centred upon a spiral staircase that is entirely white and sculpted in a single fluid movement. This staircase rises up in a continuous curve, edged with a thin wrought-iron handrail. Its stone edges glide down to the floor and its curved underside extends above a reading space where in-built bookshelves follow the bends of the wall. An in-built fireplace – a hearth sculpted into the stonework itself – is a feature of the room. Thick white cylindrical columns rise from the floor up to a mezzanine, blending into the upstairs level. The same white, grainy plastering is everywhere here, providing continuity of material between the walls, stairs and columns, whose curves and relief are brought out by natural light. The floor is adorned with large slate slabs, whose dark tone brings out the whiteness of the walls in a stark contrast. Large arched French windows lead from the room out onto a terrace at the same level and to the garden.

The second level
A second lounge with a sculpted fireplace looks down from a mezzanine floor at the cavernous reception room. It reproduces the curves of the ground floor. A large sliding glazed door leads out onto a terrace, where you can admire a view of the surrounding countryside. Set back, a guest bedroom has its own en-suite bathroom and a private terrace on the garden-level floor. Beside it, there is a small children’s bedroom. This section can be reached separately from the upper part of the garden, through a second entrance door.

The third level
The third level brings together two sections, each of which has a bedroom, a bathroom, a lavatory and a door leading to a private terrace. Via French windows, both also connect to an open-sided gallery with arched openings, built within the thickness of the building. One of the bedrooms is nestled within a rounded space that extends out from the facade like an adjoining tower. Its curved walls and windows offer well-selected vistas of the surrounding landscape. In the second space, a small arched window, fitted with a wooden shutter, frames yet another beautiful view of the enchanting backdrop. The dark tone of the slate floor tiles brings out the whiteness of the walls. The bathrooms are tiled.

The terrace
The terraces are spread out over different levels and form an integral part of the villa. Some are natural extensions of the reception room and bedrooms. Others are open-air havens set back from the rest, nestled between the curves of the building. A gallery of arched openings on the top floor forms an open-sided room beneath a plastered vault. It gazes out at the landscape. Thick walls create spaces of shade here. The terracotta-tiled floor, the sandy tones of the plastering and the wooden window frames extend the Mediterranean character of the architecture. Further up, an outdoor flight of stairs climbs up a rounded wall to a roof terrace that forms a viewpoint. From this high point, you can admire a panoramic vista of the surrounding relief of the land, the different layers of the estate and, in the distance, the sparkling Mediterranean sea.

The garden

The garden was developed upon the old terraces formed by dry-stone retaining walls. It slopes down over the natural inclination of the land. Steps and paths paved with unevenly laid stone slabs link together the different levels of the plot, between terraces, low retaining walls and clusters of shrubs. The vegetation includes olive trees, cypresses, oleanders, evergreen shrubs and perennials. Gnarled tree trunks, clusters of foliage and rockeries form a backdrop with flowing contours. A few benches dot the space in the shade of trees.