From the street, you step through a finely crafted wrought-iron gate framed between two stone pillars. The gate leads into a lush garden. This oasis of greenery is separated from the road by a wall that is crowned with Medici vases and a balustrade of pear-shaped balusters. Your gaze then follows a central path up to the splendid house. The edifice has a ground floor, a first floor and a basement. The style of its main section draws inspiration from antique architecture. Its pleasant symmetry stands out. The dwelling’s rendered elevations have kept most of their original decorative features. They are adorned with fine pilasters and false capitals. The first floor with its row of windows looks like an impressive entablature from antiquity. A front flight of stone steps leads up to an open-sided porch edged with a balustrade of pear-shaped balusters and decorated with a sky-blue ceiling. On each side of this grand entrance, there are two ground-floor windows set in carved surrounds. Their wrought-iron guardrails and the balusters below them add to the overall sense of symmetry and harmony. On the first floor, the facade is punctuated with five windows that look out at the garden. The edifice is crowned with a roof of interlocking tiles.

On the left-hand side of the dwelling, an extension forms a wing that stretches forwards at a right angle to the main section. It blends into the property well and offers a link between the house and its adjoining annexes and garage.

The house is set back, standing at the end of its plot. It enjoys absolute privacy and calm. There are no neighbouring buildings right next to the dwelling.

The house

The house has a main section with a ground floor, a first floor and a basement. Ornamental concrete spheres flank a front flight of stone steps that lead up to an open-sided porch with a balustrade of pear-shaped balusters.

An extension stretches forwards at a right angle to the main section, forming a wing. It offers a conservatory that takes you out onto a side terrace and a lounge that looks out at the lush garden through a glazed wall with large sliding glass doors leading outside.

The ground floor
At the top of the front steps, in the middle of the raised ground floor, a glazed main door embellished with wrought-iron decoration opens into a hallway with white marble flooring. On the left, a lounge is adorned with a working corner fireplace in a 1930s style. The fireplace is made of Loire stone. Wood strip flooring extends across this lounge, which is bathed in natural light from a tall garden-facing window. A counter demarcates an open-plan kitchen that adjoins the lounge. This kitchen has kept old decorative features, including a grid-patterned floor with false square inserts. The kitchen offers many storage spaces and work surfaces. It is filled with natural light from a window that looks out at a side terrace of timber decking where meals can be enjoyed in sunny weather. A doorway that has kept its old stone surround leads into a conservatory with a floor of large square tiles.

Down a few steps from this conservatory, you reach into a vast living room that looks like an open-plan city apartment: a glazed wall leads out into the garden through large sliding glass doors. There is both underflooring heating here, beneath the tiles, and a wood-burning stove. Two skylights bring natural light into the room too. At the far end, a two-way mirror takes up much of the wall. When you look through it closely, you can see the annexes beyond it. These annexes could be converted.

Back in the hallway, in the main section, a quarter-turn marble staircase with a wrought-iron balustrade leads upstairs. From the hall, a door leads into a bathroom with a lavatory.

The upstairs
A landing with a black-and-white checked floor and a ceiling embellished with plain mouldings connects to three bedrooms with wood strip flooring. Two of these bedrooms are filled with natural light from a window. The third one is brightened up with two windows. They share a bathroom with a lavatory.

The basement
From the entrance hall, a staircase leads down to the basement, which extends beneath the whole of the main section. Down here, there is a series of three cellars. Each of these cellars is filled with natural light from basement windows that look out at the garden. The first cellar has been turned into utility room. It has a tap. The second cellar is a storage space. And the third cellar houses the boiler and other technical installations.