Château Scott

This neo Gothic castle of pure English style, raising its crenellated tower, is realized between 1868 and 1872 by Thomas Smith, the British architect, and M. Scavy, a Cannes builder, for M. Scott, a British citizen. Sir Thomas Robinson Woolfield had called the architect in Cannes in 1852 for the construction of his Villa Victoria and for the project of a large neo Gothic castle on the rocks of the Riou dale, the Chateau des Tours. In 1854, Thomas Smith realizes the La Bocca castle for H. Reverend Belmont Sym and designs several churches for the British colony; so many buildings as exotic as the place.

In order to construct his castle, M. Scott acquires several plots of land situated on the south side of the California hill, between 1868 and 1872; a total of 7.5 hectares, reaching out to the sea. The construction starts. In 1873, a notice is issued for the partition of the property. Several shares are sold successively in order to complete the financing of a pricey construction, which stays, after the completion of outside work, without interior decoration and unfurnished. Mr. Debionne, a French businessperson, acquires it, completes the interior fitting, and sells it soon after to Lord Wolverton. The castle is set in a hilly landscaped garden, crossed by a river falling off in cascade in a basin brightened up with exotic plants. Service quarters, stalls and majordomo’s quarters, edified in the same style, complete this architectural whole.

In 1933, the property belongs to Colonel Praportchevitch who gives spectacular parties and feasts, as reported in the local press. Abandoned during the war, it is divided in apartments later while retaining its original aspect. The large entrance hall of unaltered decorating is for the use of the co-owners. The garden has been divided into plots and the outbuildings are now private independent properties.