"It is the place where Salvador Dali painted The Enigma of Hitler, a haunting landscape featuring a giant telephone receiver that seems to be crying a tear over a cutout picture of the Fuhrer. Conceived in 1939, the work seems to anticipate war. It is also the place where Winston Churchill penned parts of his multi-volume A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, and painted its dappled-light view."
"Somerset Maugham would visit, too, as well as novelist Colette, composer Igor Stravinsky and playwright Jean Cocteau, partaking in lunches that lasted all day and night, with debates and discussions around artistic ideas. This place is La Pausa: the Mediterranean villa in the hills of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, once owned by husband-and-wife writing duo Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson, followed by French fashion designer Gabrielle Coco Chanel, who had it rebuilt from scratch at the end of the 1920s."
"She later sold it to an American publishing couple, Emery and Wendy Reves. Sprawling yet monastic, the white-walled house with blue shutters and black crittall windows clustered in groups of five in homage to Chanel's No 5 has just been restored to its original specification, after being bought back by the luxury fashion brand in 2015. Architect Peter Marino studied countless photographs to get it right:"
La Pausa is a Mediterranean villa in the hills of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin that served as a creative hub for figures such as Salvador Dali, Winston Churchill, Somerset Maugham, Colette, Igor Stravinsky and Jean Cocteau. The house was originally owned by Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson before being rebuilt by Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel around 1929 and later sold to Emery and Wendy Reves. Chanel repurchased the property in 2015 and commissioned a meticulous restoration to original specifications by architect Peter Marino, recreating elements from concrete lawn squares to potted cacti, original bedframes and a mirrored bathroom recalling 31 Rue Cambon.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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