La Carrière

Spread across four levels, the villa offers 347.19 m² (approx. 3,737 sq ft) of living space set within a beautifully wooded 5,580 m² (1.38-acre) plot.

The garden level opens onto a spacious dining room that leads to a shaded terrace, as well as a large living room with an adjacent shower room and separate toilet. The panelled kitchen retains its original nautical charm. This level also includes a laundry room, storage areas, and two large garages.

An internal staircase and a service lift connect the upper floors. The first floor features a bright suite with a terrace, along with a lounge area and bathroom — which can be converted into a large bedroom or games room.

On the second floor, you’ll find Charles Trenet’s former bedroom, complete with a bathroom area, separate toilet, a sea-view terrace, and a second suite with its own terrace.

The third floor, accessed via a ship-style staircase and a spiral staircase, houses another suite with two terraces — one of which offers panoramic views. From the bedroom, a door opens onto a rooftop belvedere terrace, the villa’s “upper deck,” where you can enjoy sweeping views of the hills and the sea.

The garden includes several peaceful relaxation areas: a 20-meter tiled swimming pool, a panoramic terrace accessed via a short flight of steps, a barbecue area, and even a small amphitheater with a fountain. The grounds are dotted with mature pine trees, offering an exceptionally tranquil setting.

A 58 m² (624 sq ft) caretaker’s house with three rooms — including a living area, two bedrooms with a shower room, and a fully fitted kitchen — completes the estate. It has a private entrance, a parking space, and a convertible outbuilding.

In 1938, Charles Trenet purchased the land and personally designed the plans for the house, which he named La Carrière — a nod to his own career, then reaching its peak. At the outbreak of the war, the villa, barely completed, was requisitioned and occupied by an industrialist and his family until 1945. Trenet returned to find it in poor condition and undertook extensive renovations that gave the house its now-iconic ocean-liner silhouette. He lived there for many years and composed countless songs within its walls, some of which he performed in the small amphitheater at the far end of the property.

Inspired by the purity of modernist architecture and the Art Deco style, he designed a vertical, multi-level home, which he decorated with his friend Jean Cocteau. Antique-inspired friezes, theatrical mask-like faces, and lion heads are scattered throughout the villa, where Cocteau’s surrealism blends harmoniously with the modernist lines of the architecture. Cocteau also created a portrait of the singer on one of the glass panels separating the living room from the kitchen.

Throughout the house, a palette of primary colors — applied to the shutters, window ledges, and the two protruding columns flanking the entrance — lends the property a cheerful, light-hearted atmosphere, reflecting the spirit of its first owner.