Villa Jane Andrée, the Aga Khan’s former villa on the Cap d’Antibes

Built around 1900 for Madame Bertrand, the former Villa Taormina on the boulevard du Cap was bought in 1929 by the Aga Khan III, leader of the Ismailis, who renamed it Jane Andrée after his third wife, Andrée Carron. Today it is one of the protected buildings of the Cap d’Antibes.

Princess Andrée Aga Khan

Andrée Joséphine Carron, a former saleswoman in a sweet shop and co-owner of a hat shop, married the Aga Khan III in December 1929, in a civil ceremony in Aix-les-Bains followed by a religious ceremony in Bombay. Known as Princess Andrée Aga Khan, she gave birth in 1933 to their only son, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, who later served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1966 to 1977.

The transformation of the villa

The Aga Khan bought four neighbouring plots, creating a park of around 6,000 m², and removed the tennis court to make a larger entrance and plant a great many trees, including cedars, mimosas, apple and olive trees.

In 1933, the villa was enlarged for the princess by the architect Henri Bret, with an additional wing and an arcaded loggia in an Art Deco and neo-Provençal style, and in 1939 he added the garages and a pavilion. The ironwork was the work of the Antibes ironsmith B. Aymar.

The interior was luxuriously decorated with Louis XV furniture and 17th and 18th-century carpets from the French and Flemish schools, alongside Persian screens and engraved Indian coffee tables, reflecting the Aga Khan’s taste for both French and Oriental culture. In 1937, the villa was featured in the magazine L’Illustration.

Abandonment and reconstruction

The couple divorced in 1943, and the Aga Khan left the property for good, while his former wife kept the villa. Abandoned for several years and occupied by squatters, it was then partially demolished without permission.

As part of the remarkable architectural heritage of Antibes, the villa had to be rebuilt identically, in keeping with the Jane Andrée of the Aga Khan’s era. The reconstruction was completed in 2017 under the architects Jean Foussat and Richard Guilhem, while the landscape architect Alain Faragou created a new park around the house, with a cour d’honneur, a long ornamental pool, shaded courtyards and formal gardens.

Discover Villa Jane Andrée today, following its reconstruction and the creation of its new park.

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