La Lorada
Guided tour of a truly spectacular residence at Saint-Tropez.
For several decades, the Saint-Tropez peninsula has played host to the summer nightlife of national and international stars of showbiz - and the most knock-out residences on the coast ! Guided tour of a prime example…
Some fans have only seen its turquoise gate in the form of prancing horses while readers of “personality pages” discover it in glossy magazines, the star of jet-set parties. As for the locals of Saint-Tropez, they often refer to the sublime pool, one of the biggest on the Côte d’Azur, no less than 500 m3, with little islands and rocks, a cascade and a jacuzzi five metres high. You could adopt a pseudo-intellectual attitude, saying that you’re above all this, that the slightly voyeurist indiscretion involved in this tour doesn’t really affect you… Though it’s still somewhat difficult to suppress a twinge of excitement when you enter the driveway. It’s impossible to ignore the fantasies that the place evokes. Let’s start over…
At Ramatuelle, in the prestigious neighbourhood of L’Oumède, surveying the beaches of Pampelonne, the property consists of about five acres of land with 1,000 m2 of residential premises and outbuildings. The tone is set as soon as you arrive : down to the left, a tennis court ; close by, the helicopter pad, not a ridiculous, ostentatious circle of grass marked with an immaculate H, but rather a clearing which only reveals its purpose when seen from the sky. Just a detail, perhaps, but significant nevertheless : you’re expecting an extravagant display of luxury, but you’re obliged to admit that that’s not the case. The rose-tinted residence with its blue shutters and ancient tiles avoids an impression of massiveness by stretching out along the garden, subtly following the contour of the shore, just a few hundred metres away, as the crow flies. Mostly at ground level, it overlooks the famous pool, surrounded by the park, laid out on two levels with laurels, olive-trees and pitosporums, like a serene and beautiful Garden of Eden. Architect Roland Morisse based the project on the theme of a Mexican hacienda. You’re thus not surprised by the wooden sign bearing the name “Lorada”, nor by the unusual paved patio with its cacti and a central fountain enhanced by papyrus and water-lilies, nor the sculpted stone rather like a totem that serves as a door-frame, not even by the herd of bison painted on a whole stretch of the wall. In addition to its picturesque aspect, the interior courtyard has the great advantage of making the lounge double-sided. It thus benefits from access to the pool area and a view of the sea at the front, and access to the surprising patio at the rear. The huge L-shaped sofa, covered with Hispanic-style cushions, is the centre-piece here. The simple decor gives priority to old tiles and natural woodwork with items of masonry, red cedar beams, bright colours and De Tonge furnishings. The building’s layout follows a perfect logic. Left of the lounge, the dining-room, whose main features are the ridged and vaulted ceiling, a heavy, round wooden table and a Mexican sideboard ; just beyond, the kitchen with its colourful tiling, laid out around the professional cooking range signed Molteni. To the right of the lounge, the sleeping accommodation : four bedrooms whose names correspond to their colour schemes, with bathrooms in ceramics. On the first floor, the master suite : a bedroom which opens out to a small sitting-room and a Carrara marble bathroom with encrustations of little blue details also fashioned in marble. With the exception of the dressing-room fitted in wood, the suite is dominated by cool white and beige. You appreciate the “tropéziennes” facing south and west, and the magnificent view of the sea. Terraces, either covered or open to the sky, furnished or left simply bare, play a primordial role in the quality of life offered by this property. They invite you to relax and laze in the sun, corresponding perfectly to your expectations about the region’s life-style. Among other amenities, you discover a studio-apartment, immense gym rooms equipped with body-building machines, a punch bag, massage table, changing room and hammam in “pâte de verre”, technical units and rooms reserved for house staff.
By Laetitia Rossi - Photos Edith Andreotta.
