9th arrondissement of Marseille, nestled beside the beautiful Calanques national park
Location
The 9th arrondissement of Marseille is the city’s most extensive district. Much greenery grows here and the shimmering Mediterranean Sea edges it. The area is highly sought-after for the pleasant lifestyle that it offers. And it includes the jewel in the crown of this region: the Calanques, a series of spectacular, steep-walled inlets. The value of this natural area was officially recognised in 2012 when the Calanque national park was established: the first ever zone made up of suburbs, sea and unspoilt land to be listed in Europe. The property lies in the calm, residential end of the district, in the south-east corner of Marseille. It is 20 minutes from the city’s charming old port and Saint-Charles central train station and it is five minutes from the village of Mazargues and the delightful Pointe Rouge beach. Shops and schools lie near the property too.
Description
The villa
The ground floor
You enter the ground floor via an arched glazed door of wrought iron. This entrance door leads into a hallway filled with natural light. Going from east to west, this hall connects to an office, a stairwell, a corridor leading to a kitchen and a dining room, and, lastly, a lounge. Beige Filetto Rosso marble adorns the floors. In the office, which opens out into the hallway, a whole wall section is taken up with a bespoke walnut bookcase that was made in the 1950s. The lounge features a fireplace made of sculpted white stone and brick. On the west side, a spacious conservatory with a summer kitchen and a travertine floor extends this lounge. The dining room adjoins the lounge on its south side and also connects to the conservatory. A corridor leads to a utility room and the kitchen. From the kitchen, a broad, glazed door leads out onto the patio. And from the corridor, two doors lead to a storage space and a lavatory.
The upstairs
In the entrance hall, a majestic staircase with a finely crafted wrought-iron balustrade leads upstairs. The steps are made of marble. The gallery upstairs is bathed in natural light. It connects to a master bedroom with its ceiling of fine mouldings and its en-suite bathroom with a lavatory, a small room that currently serves as a walk-in wardrobe, a third bedroom which has a built-in cupboard and could be divided into two bedrooms, a separate bathroom with travertine tiling, a lavatory, and, lastly, a fourth bedroom with an en-suite shower room and access to the roof terrace, which is edged with a wrought-iron balustrade in a bulging shape that is typical of the 1950s. Solid-oak strip flooring extends across this level.
The outbuildings
A garage adjoins the house’s north-east side. It offers a floor area of around 35m² and currently serves as a workshop and storage space. Several vehicles could be parked inside it. On the south-east side, the Mediterranean patio is demarcated, on one side, with a building that houses a bedroom with a bathroom and lavatory, a pantry and a separate washroom and, on the other side, with an annexe that houses an office with a floor area of around 18m². The patio terrace is adorned with travertine tiles and pleasantly sheltered from the sun by a plane tree and a small Korean mulberry.
The garden
There is a tiled, generously sized swimming pool set back from the house. It is bathed in sun all day and edged with a stone terrace. A summer kitchen stands beside it. The rest of the plot, which is enclosed with walls, fences and hedges, is dotted with trees, shrubs and a variety of Mediterranean plants, including olive trees, oleanders, acanthuses and cactuses. Opposite the gate, one or two more vehicles can be parked on a paved area on the property.
Our opinion
When the current owners fully renovated this magnificent villa in 2020, they showcased its 1950s character masterfully. The layout and scale of this remarkable dwelling would perfectly suit a family who likes to host friends and relatives and who prefers to live far from city bustle. The property would also be an ideal holiday home to rent out: not only is it close to the beautiful Calanques national park, but it also offers a swimming pool and outhouses. The office annexe lends itself to ideas for new developments, whether you want to work studiously here in absolute calm, produce paintings here in an artist’s studio or turn this extra space into a spare bedroom. The studio apartment annexe could easily be rented out to a student studying at one of the nearby universities or it could be the bedroom of a teenager looking for a little more independence. In short, this delightful property opens up a range of possibilities. It is a jewel set in an enchanting backdrop of wooded hills and a sparkling sea – an environment that is typical of Marseille.
1 190 000 €
Fees at the Vendor’s expense
Reference 473736
Land registry surface area | 1097 m2 |
Main building surface area | 295 m2 |
Number of bedrooms | 5 |
Outbuilding surface area | 77 m2 |
NB: The above information is not only the result of our visit to the property; it is also based on information provided by the current owner. It is by no means comprehensive or strictly accurate especially where surface areas and construction dates are concerned. We cannot, therefore, be held liable for any misrepresentation.