The villa

The facades of this villa are characteristic of the late 19th century Italianate style. Its architecture was, furthermore, qualified as the Florentine style by the School of the Louvre. This villa was actually constructed in 1902 for a rich Parisian family who came here on holiday and, more particularly, to “take the waters” at a time when Pierrefonds was still a spa town. In 1935, it was purchased by a local personality, a former military dentist who had saved numerous French soldiers during the First World War. He turned it into a history of dentistry museum for several years. It was not until the 1950’s that it became a main residence.
The villa stands on rendered quarry stone block lower sections which are on a level with the street. Although there is an outside back stairway leading directly to the kitchen on the right-hand side, the main entrance to the villa is via a discreet wooden door in this lower section. Once through said door, a troglodyte entrance hall provides access to an oak wood, spiral stairway that goes up to the building’s main level, there where the garden is also to be found. The stairway leads to an open gallery, reviving the principle of the ancient peristyle. Said gallery enables visitors to reach the villa’s main entrance door or the terrace running alongside the entire main facade or the garden.
“La Colombine” features a circular terrace, its facade spreading out like a stage set. The central tower commands the entire building. Engaged in the main carcass and supporting the portico on the left-hand side, it rises to a height of some 20 metres. This belvedere is topped with a dome covered with blue and gold, glazed, fish scale tiles. A metre tall, terracotta finial brings a symbolic dimension to the town: it is the axis linking the sky to the land, the Mundi axis, a link between the world down under and the world up above. All four walls are richly decorated with squares of green and white mosaic tiles, laid in a chessboard pattern, triple lancet windows as well as glazed brick and stone friezes. It is entirely constructed from Saint-Maximin dressed stone, just like the rest of the villa. Both the tower and the main building feature impressive jambs supporting the roof. And in the centre of the tower, set on a bunch of exotic fruit, a turquoise, Pierrefonds ceramic medallion represents the building’s neo-Renaissance influence. Here, there is no symmetry, but rather an extremely elaborate, fanciful architecture with a gable roof dormer, semi-circular arched and square windows, an antique-style pediment, geminated windows, vast terraces, wooden and cast-iron railings, composite order columns for the gallery, four pavilion roofs as well as green and red glazed bricks framing the windows of the reception rooms.

The cellar

A vaulted stone cellar completes this villa.

Caretaker accommodation

One area could possibly be converted into a studio flat to be used by a caretaker or for passing friends.

The garages

Two garages can be accessed directly from the street.

The garden

An enclosed garden is set out around a lawn. It has Pierrefonds woods, with its centuries-old trees, as a backdrop. A rear entrance enables cars to directly access the property. A terrace, laid out under an arbour, is an ideal place to relax outside when the weather is fine.