| Villa Nellcôte | |
|---|---|
 The gates of the Villa Nellcôte in August 2008 | |
 | |
| Former names | Château Amicitia |
| Alternative names | Nellcôte |
| General information | |
| Type | Private residence |
| Location | Villefranche-sur-Mer,France |
| Address | 10 Avenue Louise Bordes 06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer |
| Coordinates | 43°42′09″N7°19′20″E / 43.702617°N 7.322115°E /43.702617; 7.322115 |
| Completed | 1899 |
Villa Nellcôte (often referred to asNellcôte) is a 16-room mansion built during theBelle Époque on a headland above the sea atVillefranche-sur-Mer on theCôte d'Azur inSouthern France. Among rock music fans, it is known as the recording location of the 1972 albumExile on Main St. by the English bandthe Rolling Stones.
In the late 1890s, a former banker, Eugene Thomas, built the imposing villa fronted with marble Ionic columns. Originally it bore the name ofChâteau Amicitia. In 1919, the villa, since renamed Villa Nellcôte, was acquired by the Bordes family, famous shipowners specialising in the transport ofsodium nitrate betweenChile and France.[citation needed]
The Villa Nellcôte was leased from April 1971 to October 1973 byKeith Richards, guitarist ofthe Rolling Stones. Recording sessions for the band's critically acclaimed 1972 albumExile on Main St. took place in its basement.[1] Richards lived in the house only until late August 1971, after which he left France due to legal problems.[citation needed] In October 1973, a court in Nice imposed a one-year suspended sentence and a 5,000franc fine on Richards for trafficking cannabis, and banned him from entering France for two years.[2]
Richards claimed that during theNazioccupation of France in the early 1940s, Villa Nellcôte had served as the headquarters of the localGestapo, with the floor vents in the basement reportedly being decorated withswastikas.[3] However, this story is almost certainly false. The swastika was a common motif in Belle Époque designs. The Germans were not in the south of France long enough. From June 1940 to September 1943, Villefranche-sur-Mer was under firstVichy French, then underFascist Italian control. The Nazi occupation began only after that — and they left again in August 1944. With the war turning against them and an invasion expected on the Côte d'Azur, it seems unlikely that the Germans would have spent those 11 months getting local foundries to make custom cast-iron ventilation grates adorned with a swastika motif. Nor is there any record of a Gestapo HQ in Villefranche-sur-Mer.[citation needed]
It is presently[when?] owned by a Russian national, who purchased it for 100 million euros ($128 million) in 2005.[4]
While the house is not visible from the street, it can be seen from the water.[5]
