Villa Zilveli, Modern house in 19th arrondissement, France

Villa Zilveli is a modern residential structure that rests on reinforced concrete pillars, elevated above the ground. The building features prominent large windows and exposed concrete surfaces that flood the interior with natural light.

Jean Welz built the villa in 1933 for Athanase Zilveli, a Greek engineer and accountant born in Turkey, who gave it to his Norman wife as a birthday present. Left empty for about a decade, it was subject to a danger order in 2006 and an imminent-danger order in January 2019. Jean-Paul Goude bought it at auction in June 2019 for 2.2 million euros and had it demolished in summer 2022; in 2024 he abandoned rebuilding and put the 216 m² plot up for sale with a construction permit.

The villa was demolished in summer 2022, so only the 216 m² plot at 70 rue Georges-Lardennois remains; a building permit with a reconstruction project by Lankry Architectes is attached to the land, which was put up for sale in 2024. The house also appears as the imagined squat of Vernon Subutex in Virginie Despentes's trilogy.

The villa no longer stands: it was demolished in summer 2022, and in 2024 Jean-Paul Goude put the 216 m² plot at 70 rue Georges-Lardennois up for sale with a building permit for a faithful reconstruction designed with Lankry Architectes. Visitors to the Butte Bergeyre see an empty lot, not the house.

The villa was demolished in summer 2022, so the two framed views exist only in photographs and plans. Its last owner, Jean-Paul Goude, who bought it at auction in June 2019 for 2.2 million euros, gave up rebuilding in 2024 and put the 216 m² plot up for sale with a permit for a faithful reconstruction designed with Lankry Architectes.