Villa Kérylos: Ancient Greece Reincarnated on the French Riviera

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit an early 20th-century paean to the architecture of ancient Greece.

Built in the early 1900s, the Ancient Greek Revival-style Villa Kérylos is perched on a rocky promontory overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. While the structure was modeled after noble residences from the Greek island of Delos, the building incorporated the era’s modern conveniences, including plumbing and underfloor heating. Andrei Antipov/Shutterstock

Amid the glitz and glamor of the French Riviera, Villa Kérylos is a rare bird—literally, “kérylos” means “sea swallow” or “halcyon,” signifying a good omen in Greek mythology.

This unique building in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, near Nice, was the product of a collaboration between patron Théodore Reinach (1860–1928) and his friend architect Emmanuel Pontremoli (1865–1956), who also worked on archeological sites. The polymath Reinach, born in France to a Jewish family, was an archaeologist, historian, jurist, mathematician, musicologist, and numismatist. He specialized in the study of ancient Greece. Built as a holiday home between 1902 and 1908, the white stucco villa is a poetic space that conjures a Hellenistic residence while incorporating Belle Epoque comforts and techniques.