Description
A modernist villa on a cliffside.
This spectacular villa was built by André Lefèvre-Devaux in 1957 and was designated a 20th-century heritage site in 2000.
The villa spans around 180 m² on three levels, with the addition of an independent studio. The upper level comprises an entrance hall, living room, dining room, kitchen and dressing room. The lower level comprises two bedrooms and a shower room.
Accessible from the outside, the third level houses a large bedroom and a shower room. The living spaces are complemented by an independent studio with bedroom, shower room and kitchenette, and the property also includes two cellars and two garages.
Cradled by the sound of the waves, the villa benefits from 1,250 m² of beautifully landscaped grounds with private access to the sea, punctuated by rock-set terraces and a cleverly oriented patio that safeguards the sumptuous views while sheltering residents from the prevailing winds.
Située au Lavandou, elle profite d’un cadre d’exception face aux îles de Port-Cros et du Levant et bénéficie d’une vue panoramique sur toute la baie d’Hyères jusqu’au Cap Bénat. Entre Toulon et Saint-Tropez, Le Lavandou est une petite station balnéaire reconnue pour ses plages de sable fin.
Volumes open onto the bay
The spaces in the villa open out to the sea and enjoy panoramic views across the bay. Its terraced garden roof blends into the surrounding vegetation, making the house almost imperceptible in the landscape.
Firmly rooted in the land, the villa gives the impression of monolithic solidity and durability that André Lefèvre-Devaux wanted. Its architectural design reflects the solid nature of the materials used – local stone and concrete – and there is no break between the interior and exterior. Its volumes are left open, with no exposed beams, and the continuity of the spaces is maintained by identical treatment of the materials inside and out.
Here, the architect has worked hard to ensure that the building is set into the land, respecting the hard rock uncovered during the earthworks. These rocks have been integrated into the architecture of the house in an almost troglodytic spirit.
André Lefèvre-Devaux
Born in 1921, André Lefèvre-Devaux studied in Paris at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in the studios of Georges Gromort and Louis Arretche, graduating in 1952. He then became an architect for the city of Paris, before resigning and moving to Bormes les Mimosas. He set up his own practice in Le Lavandou in 1956, working in partnership with the architect Jean Aubert, whom he had met in Paris during his studies.
He then worked mainly in the region. His practice designed and built private projects such as villas, as well as major housing developments and facilities such as hotel, hospital and religious complexes.
André Lefèvre-Devaux also carried out numerous urban planning studies, notably in Bormes, Hyères, La Londe and La Croix-Valmer, and designed the marina in the port of Bormes, as well as seaside developments in Ibiza in Spain and Babousar in Iran.
His collaboration with Jean Aubert ended in 1980.
The architectural style of this villa echoes that used by André Lefèvre-Devaux and Jean Aubert between 1961 and 1978 when they built the Gaou Bénat estate, comprising the luxurious Gaou Bénat housing estate and the village of Les Fourches.
Respectful of the landscape, topography and vegetation, the Gaou Bénat estate covers 135 hectares and includes 700 holiday homes scattered along the rocky slopes.
The development has been designed in an organic, Mediterranean style, with an open-plan layout based on a network of lanes, small squares and stone staircases.
The houses are integrated into the land and built in planted terraces along the slope, in an effort to make the architecture disappear in the face of the magnificence of the site. This approach preserves the natural heritage of a large part of the estate by precisely defining the building zones with sea views, protected from the hottest exposures and prevailing winds. The houses are designed for the summer season, with terraces and patios. Buried in the ground on one side and opened up by bay windows on the other, they are predominantly east-facing, facing the sea. Their architecture combines simple lines, solid walls, rough concrete parapets and modernist-inspired bay windows with patios, shutters and pergolas borrowed from Mediterranean vernacular architecture. The organic structure of the whole successfully combines density and privacy. No house obstructs the view of others, no garden is enclosed, and the boundaries between dwellings are suggested by simple low walls.
The more modest village of Les Fourches has similar architectural and town-planning features, but with a higher building density.
