Villa Domergue, Art Deco villa in Cannes, France
Villa Domergue is an Art Deco residence in Cannes featuring Italian-influenced architecture with geometric forms throughout its design. The property includes terraced gardens with ornamental ponds, cascading water features, and multiple levels that organize the entire grounds.
Painter Jean-Gabriel Domergue bought the land in Cannes's Californie district in 1926 and had the villa, first called Villa Fiesole, built by architects Émile Molinié and Charles Nicod in 1929. He based its design on a Tuscan villa he had seen at Fiesole. Odette Domergue bequeathed the property to the city of Cannes in 1973, and it was listed as a monument historique on 19 September 1990.
The villa is named after Jean-Gabriel Domergue, who bought the land in 1926 and designed it himself; his wife Odette, a sculptor, made the terraced gardens, basins and cascades and filled the park with antique busts and her own works, including an Etruscan-style Sarcophagus of the Spouses. Since 2003 the gardens host the Jazz à Domergue festival each August.
The property sits on Avenue Fiesole and accommodates up to 80 people indoors and 400 in outdoor areas. The garden's multiple levels involve walking through different zones, so comfortable footwear is recommended.
Odette Maugendre-Villers, a sculptor, designed the terraced gardens, basins and cascades and carved an Etruscan-style Sarcophagus of the Spouses meant to hold the couple after death; burial in private property being then forbidden, they were first interred at the Grand Jas cemetery and moved to the garden in November 2000.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,897 contributors worldwide.
