Château de la Garoupe, Cap d'Antibes: the story of a 1907 seaside estate and its gardens
This article looks at the history of the Château de la Garoupe estate on the Cap d'Antibes. The property is not offered for rent or sale through Alexandra Lloyd Properties.
A private estate at the tip of the Cap d'Antibes
The Château de la Garoupe stands near Garoupe Beach, at the tip of the Cap d'Antibes peninsula between Antibes and Juan-les-Pins. It is one of the most celebrated private estates on the French Riviera. Its story takes in British aristocracy, early 20th-century garden design, famous guests from the worlds of art and music, and one of the most closely followed luxury property sales on the Côte d'Azur in recent years.
1907: an English lord buys land on the Cap
In 1907, Sir Charles McLaren bought a four-acre plot of land at the point of the Cap d'Antibes. McLaren was a wealthy industrialist and Liberal Member of Parliament who later sat in the House of Lords as Lord Aberconway. He was a Scottish baron and the lawyer of King Edward VII.
He commissioned the English architect Ernest George to design the house. George created a residence with a long façade lined with half-moon windows, and a long stairway running from the house down to the Mediterranean.
The gardens of Lady Aberconway
The gardens were created by Lord Aberconway's wife, Laura McLaren, Baroness Aberconway. The park was laid out around the house and down towards the sea, and included:
- French formal gardens
- A pergola
- Rosebushes reaching 12 metres in height
- Irises and begonias
The gardens were entered in the competition for the most beautiful gardens on the Côte d'Azur. In 1919, the estate received a visit from the Duke of Connaught.
Inside the château
Visitors enter through three marble arches into a vast entrance hall furnished in a rustic style. Its most notable piece is a fine copy of a Florentine Renaissance sideboard.
According to a description published when the estate came to market in 2023, the main residence includes a drawing room, a music room and a billiards room along its north side, a principal bedroom with a dressing room and a large sea-view terrace, five guest bedrooms and a winter garden. A swimming pool, a jacuzzi and a tennis court were added in more recent years.
Cole Porter, Picasso and the Riviera's golden age
During the 20th century, the château was rented or visited by several well-known figures, including the composer Cole Porter and his wife Linda, the painter Pablo Picasso and the writer Ernest Hemingway. It belongs to the era when the Cap d'Antibes became a summer destination for artists, writers and international society.
Sir Henry Norman and the enlargement of the house
The château later passed to Lord Aberconway's daughter, Florence Priscilla, Lady Norman, who continued to develop the gardens. She had married Sir Henry Norman in 1907. He enlarged the property and added an extra floor to the house.
Sir Henry Norman had a varied career:
Journalist on the staff of the Pall Mall Gazette, and later assistant editor of the Daily Chronicle Traveller across Canada, the United States, Russia, Japan, China, Siam, Malaya and Central Asia, publishing books on his journeys Liberal Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South and then Blackburn, from 1900 to 1923 Assistant Postmaster-General from 1910, and an early advocate of wireless communication Supporter of women's suffrage Created a baronet in 1915
He was also concerned with the preservation of nature, and for a long period campaigned in the Pall Mall Gazette for the protection of Niagara Falls. His book The Preservation of Niagara Falls was published in 1882.
From the McLaren family to a new owner
The château stayed in the McLaren family until the 1990s, when it was bought by the Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky. After his death in 2013, the French authorities confiscated the estate in 2015 as part of a money-laundering case.
The property was then put up for sale by AGRASC, the French state agency that manages seized and confiscated assets. The sale was announced in early 2024.
The estate today
Today, the estate covers around 10 hectares of landscaped grounds. It has been well maintained over the years and retains many of its original features.
The Château de la Garoupe is private and not open to the public. The long stairway to the sea can be seen from the Sentier de Tirepoil, the coastal path that runs around the Cap d'Antibes.
The Cap d'Antibes today
The Cap d'Antibes is one of the most sought-after locations for luxury villas on the French Riviera. It combines private waterfront estates, pine-covered headlands, coves and beaches, just minutes from Antibes, Juan-les-Pins and Cannes.
Alexandra Lloyd Properties offers a selection of luxury villas for rent and for sale on the Cap d'Antibes and across the French Riviera.