Villa La Vigie, meaning 'The Lookout Tower,' is one of the most visually distinctive properties on Cap d'Antibes, instantly recognizable by its pink-painted neo-Gothic silhouette crowned by a dramatic turret. Built in 1912 by architect Lucien Stable on the waterfront of Boulevard Edouard-Baudoin, the villa commands panoramic views stretching from the Massif de l'Esterel to the Lerins Islands.
The villa entered the orbit of American wealth in 1927 when it was acquired by railroad magnate Frank Jay Gould, whose wife Florence Lacaze transformed it into one of the Riviera's most celebrated social addresses. Their guest list read like a who's who of interwar culture: Maurice Chevalier, Jean Cocteau, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Andre Gide, Mistinguett, Paul Morand, and Pablo Picasso all passed through its doors. Most remarkably, Picasso stayed at the villa with his family during the summer of 1924, setting up a studio in the annex and painting directly onto the walls of the bedrooms and salons — works that the owners controversially covered over with white paint.
The villa was classified as a Monument Historique in 2000, recognizing both its architectural merit and its extraordinary cultural significance. With approximately 6,000 square feet of living space, seven bedrooms, and its waterfront position on the boundary between Cap d'Antibes and Juan-les-Pins, Villa La Vigie remains one of the most coveted residential properties on the Cote d'Azur.