Framed by two white square columns, a large double gate, with elegant scrolls surrounding the gilded initials of the original owner’s wife, marks the entrance to the property.
Built on the side of a hill that overlooks the neighbouring orchards, the three-storey pleasure palace is located in the middle of verdant grounds with centenary trees. Sheltered from view, only its ancient watchtower and roof are visible above the canopy.
A tarmac driveway weaves its way through the wooded hillside before reaching the main villa, which includes three storeys over a basement level and is topped with a gabled slate roof, itself crowned with two dormer windows and three pink brick chimneys.
To the northwest, the watchtower's spire culminates at approximately 25 metres, while to the south, it overlooks a 10 x 4-metre swimming pool, from which a double flight of front steps ascend to a large patio that surrounds the villa on three sides. A white stone balustrade with an oval motif, innovative for the time period, safeguards the patio and the two flights of symmetrical stairs that straddle two interior greenhouses.
The main façade, in stone and brick, covered in roughcast dusky pink-coloured plaster, is topped with an open pediment bordered by a lacy white wooden cornice board. Each of the villa’s two upper floors includes a wooden balcony at the centre of the building’s main façade, protected by guardrails decorated with a scroll motif.
Lastly, the driveway, which descends towards the south-western part of the grounds, leads to an annexe with two garages and a barn, also accessible via an independent gate.

The Main Villa

Given its location on the top of a hill and its large, mostly rectilinear windows, the pleasure palace, with features characteristic of the 19th century, is bathed in light year round.
If local materials, such as pink brick and Garonne river stones were mostly used in the building’s construction, Tuscan details were added during the renovations carried out by its current owners. White stone is used for the window surrounds, quoins as well as the foundations and stringcourses, while iron and wood are used in the delicate ornamental details that enliven the house and provide it with a certain distinction, typical of the era in which it was constructed.

The ground floor
The driveway leads to the entrance on the building’s northern façade, where a wide, Eiffelesque canopy shades a white-tile patio. Decorated in a white wrought-iron scroll motif, a wooden double door is topped with a fanlight displaying the initials H and L, which also appear on the property’s gated entrance.
The front door opens onto an L-shaped corridor, bathed in light by the front door to the north and another double door, to the south, which gives onto the patio overlooking the swimming pool. The corridor, with high ceilings decorated with white and green rectilinear mouldings, and a floor covered in large white and deep blue marbled tiles, leads to a large living room to the left.
With approximately 47 m², this room is flooded in light by a pair of glazed double doors, a glass door with lateral fanlight as well as two tall wood-framed windows. The three doors provide direct access to the patio, while a wooden fireplace adorned with vegetal scrolls presides over the middle of the living room whose hardwood floors are perfectly coordinated with the mantle’s burnished hues. A harmonious blend of green, white and gold adorn the ceiling, which is embellished with round plasterworks sculpted into acanthus leaves in the centre and corners of each of its two sections.
To the right, the corridor leads to a dining room of approximately 18 m². Matching the decorative style of the large living room, its walls are decorated in moulded wood panelling. A white-veined red marble fireplace provides a dazzling touch to the room, which has hardwood floors and is crowned with a ceiling similar to the one in the living room. A fitted kitchen, of approximately 14 m², communicates with the dining room and includes a wide fireplace that covers the entirety of one of its walls.
This floor also includes a lavatory as well as access to the tower with a wooden staircase, which leads to the villa’s basement level, two upper floors as well as a platform at its summit.

The first floor
The staircase leads to an intermediary landing, separated by a glazed wooden door with lateral and upper fanlights. Colourful pieces of glass brighten up the central pane of the door, which leads to another L-shaped corridor.
With a large window overlooking the grounds, the first part of this level is used as a reading area, while the second space is bathed in light on either side by a pair of glazed wooden double doors, one of which opens onto the balcony that overlooks the entrance to the north. To the left, the corridor leads to two bedrooms, each with approximately 23 m², their own fireplace – in white-veined dark grey marble for one and white-veined Bordeaux red for the other – and a shower room. At the end of the hallway is a small bathroom, illuminated by glazed double doors with fanlights that lead to the central balcony on the southern side.
To the right, a living room with a white-veined marble fireplace, in a variety of grey and beige tones, adds a living space of approximately 18 m² to this floor.
This level also includes another bedroom, with approximately 20 square metres, like the other two. The building’s original hardwood floors provide a touch of warmth to all of the bedrooms on this level.

The second floor
The conversion of the attic space provided the villa with an independent flat in a resolutely contemporary style thanks to its open volumes, materials and contrasting tones. A large living area, of approximately 70 m², includes a living room, office space and kitchen area. This room leads to three bedrooms, of approximately 8 to 13 m², as well as a shower room with lavatory.
Bathed in sunlight by a pair of glazed wooden double doors, one of which opens onto a central balcony, as well as six other windows – two dormer windows and five skylights – this level provides suitable comfort for daily living.

The basement
With a floor area of approximately 170 m², it includes a furnace room, a former laundry room, a summer kitchen, two interior greenhouses and another room. Wooden double doors, in addition to a second door, provide access to the swimming pool’s patio, while the lavatory's floor is decorated with brightly coloured vintage cement tiles arranged into floral mosaic patterns and the monogram IHS.