Clotilde Brewster and the Côte d'Azur - Part IV
We are pleased to present the final part of a series of four blogposts by Laura Fitzmaurice – author of the forthcoming book Clotilde Brewster: Pioneering Woman Architect – which invite us to join the author as she retraces Brewster's steps through the South of France...
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THE GARDENS OF THE VILLA SAINT-LOUIS, MENTON-GARAVAN
In 1865, Menton-Garavan was described by Dr. Bennet in his book Winter in the South of Europe : Or, Mentone, the Riviera, Corsica, Sicily, and Biarritz, as Winter Climates, “On one side of the eastern bay, near the Pont St. Louis, the warmest and most sheltered region of Mentone, the side of the mountain is partially covered with lemon-trees, which ascend on terraces to a considerable height above the sea. They are in flower, and perfume the air at all seasons. In these “warm terraces,” protected from all winds but the south, exposed to the sun from morning to night, winter may said not to exist.’[1]
Figure 52: The Pont St. Louis at the Italian frontier, published in 1886. The Villa St. Louis property is on the left side of the bridge. The gardens would be created on the rocky slopes shown here. Photographer: Émile Rouchonnat.[2]
The Villa St. Louis was built before 1860 in the Cuses district of St. Louis, an area distinguished by its steep hillsides and narrow, south-facing agricultural terraces. During the 19th century, these terraces were used to cultivate small olive groves, lemon orchards, and vegetable gardens. However, the arrival of the railroad in 1869 marked a turning point, as the surrounding land began to be developed into residential lots. This period also saw a dramatic increase in the British presence, which played a pivotal role in transforming the region’s landscape and character.
The first owner of the Villa St. Louis was Caroline de Bréa, (1811-1876) who was from a prominent Menton family.[3] Her uncle was French General Jean Baptiste Fidèle Bréa. Caroline, along with her British husband, Charles Richard Nayler (1797-1868), were among the first ‘winterers’ in Menton.
Nayler, who often adopted the honorific Ottoman title of Bey at the end of his name, was a traveling ophthalmologist and surgeon. He lived in Brazil for a short time but seems to have left under questionable circumstances. One book recorded, ‘In 1839 Nayler-Bey arrived in Brazil, claiming to be the oculist of Mehemet Ali, the viceroy of Egypt. He gained notoriety as a “cornea-slayer," boldly removing the lens from individuals who did not even have cataracts. Besides skill in cataract extraction, Nayler studied with Alexander in London, adopting some of his methods. These included the application of caustic substances around the head and topical use of cadmium sulfate on the eyes. His arrival, brief residence in Rio de Janeiro, and abrupt departure are intriguing chapters in the annals of infamous charlatans.’[4]
The second owners of the Villa St. Louis were Alfred and Ellen Hearn who purchased it in 1886. They were familiar with the area, having wintered in Menton previously. In addition, Ellen’s parents had been staying for part of each year near Menton at the home of her uncle, Dr. James Henry Bennet. Both died in the area and are buried in the Cimetière du Trabuquet very near to the Hearn Mausoleum. Ellen’s father, Jean Ferdinand Joubert de la Ferté (1810-1884), was a well-known engraver and photographer who was born in Paris but moved to England as a young man. Her mother, Amelia (1815-1889) was the daughter of James Bennet, Esq., a textile manufacturer of Manchester who invented corduroy.[5] After Bennet’s early death, his widow Frances (née Tabberer) moved to Paris with their three children Amelia, James Henry, and Anna Maria. Anna Maria would later marry the American dentist, Dr. C. Starr Brewster.
Ellen’s husband, Alfred Williams Hearn, was born 1842 in New York City, to British George Arnold Hearn and his American wife, Eliza Ann Williams. George Hearn emigrated to New York from the Isle of Wight in the early 1800s and became a successful merchant, establishing a department store which eventually operated under the name of James A. Hearn & Son. It remained in the Hearn family for four generations.[6]
Rather than joining the family business, Alfred pursued a different path. Within a decade of graduating from Yale University in 1860, he moved to Paris, France and earned a Doctor of Medicine degree there in 1876. He married Ellen in Weybridge, Surrey, in 1882, where Dr. Bennet owned a home called The Ferns. It is perhaps through Dr. Bennet that Alfred met Ellen.
Soon after moving into the Villa St. Louis, aided by his able gardener, Mr. Ronco, Alfred began to plant specimen palm trees. His attempt at growing the exotic Caryota urens was noted in the journal Revue horticole.[7] This was the start of what was to become the first botanical garden in Menton.[8] Alfred died in 1903 but Ellen continued to develop the gardens with the help of Mr. Ronco, until Ronco’s own death in 1908 or 1909.
Figure 53: Postcard showing the Villa St. Louis in the foreground circa 1900. Private collection of Jean-Paul Bascoul. The entry to the villa was located on the top floor facing north.
Figure 54: Villa St. Louis, n.d., circa 1900.[9] The two gentlemen pictured were most likely Alfred W. Hearn on the left and the gardener, Mr. Ronco on the right.
Figure 55: Villa St. Louis gardens, n.d., circa 1900. The arch of the Pont St. Louis can be seen among the foliage.[10]
In a 2008 article published in Ou Païs Mentounasc, Ellen Hearn is remembered in Menton for her good works and generosity. During WWI, she rented an entire floor of the Hôtel Impérial to care for wounded soldiers arriving from the front. She established a workshop in her home where women from Menton gathered to knit warm clothing, including balaclavas, gloves, socks, and scarves, for the soldiers. Once a month, these items were sent to the Eastern and Northern fronts. In addition to her efforts for the troops, Ellen financed the Menton Orphanage and provided support to the elderly, daily distributing half a liter of milk and various food supplies.[11]
Figure 56: Ellen Hearn in her garden at the Villa St. Louis, 1915. Photograph: collection of Hilaire Ferrando.[12]
After the war, Ellen set to downsizing. The villa was filled with rare and beautiful antique objects that Alfred had collected over the years and in the early 1920’s Ellen donated much of his collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Of these, 245 objects can be seen online: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?page=1&page_size=50&q=Alfred+Williams+Hearn
Work on the gardens also recommenced after WWI and achieved remarkable results. In 1923, La Société d’Horticulture pratique de Nice et des Alpes-Maritimes organized a prestigious competition to recognize outstanding park and garden maintenance. Among the gold medalists for ‘Gardens over 5,000 square meters’, was Eugène Delrue, (1877-1944) for his work as jardinier chef at the Villa St. Louis. More than just the head gardener, he was also a horticulturist and botanist.
As a testament to her appreciation of his work, Ellen bequeathed 28,000 francs to Delrue in her will.[13] This is the equivalent of 20,057.17 Euros in 2023. Delrue’s family would later develop a nursery near Ellen’s villa.
In February 1924, Georges Truffaut in a special issue of his revue Jardinage showcased the gardens, listing all the plants for his readers’ reference and including some plants rarely grown on the Côte d'Azur at that time such as carnations and anthemis.[14] The gardens were extensive, as the article describes. ‘Situated in an amphitheater, immediately above and below the St.-Louis bridge, the boundary that separates France from Italy, these gardens are truly a marvel.’ The garden dramatically descended into the ravine on the east side.
Georges Truffaut published thirteen photographs of the Villa St. Louis gardens in Jardinage. I have included seven of them below with their original captions translated from the French.
Figure 57: It is in Menton-Garavan, at the Villa St-Louis, (Property of Mrs. A. W. Hearn, Head Gardener: Mr. E. Delrue), that we find this avenue of large Chinese Palm trees, Chamaerops excelsa, whose trunks, up to a height of 5 to 6 meters, are covered with Asparagus plumosus.
58: View of the bay of Menton-Garavan, taken from Villa St-Louis. On the left, group of Eucalyptus globulus and Cocos Romanzoffiana. Foreground, border of Anthémis.
Figure 59: The beautiful vegetation of the Date Palms or Phoenix dactylifera (Gardens of the Villa St-Louis). On the right, the trunk of an olive tree.
Figure 60: The open-air vegetation of Strelitzia Augusta is just as beautiful at Menton-Garavan as at the Cape of Good Hope, the homeland of this ornamental Musaceae.
Figure 61: Villa St-Louis: On the left, Cycas revoluta: on the right, Pritchardia filifera with their impressive trunks; in the background Herbeclinium macrophyllum forming a flowered ball.
Figure 62: In the Gardens of the Villa St-Louis, in the background, Nolina Stricta (Dracoenate Liliaceae) from Mexico; in the center, a magnificent specimen of Hebeclinium macrophyllum with violet flowers; in front of the latter: Metrosideros tomentosa; on the right, in the background, Phœnix canariensis; foreground, trunk of Pritchardia filifera, against which Mr. Delrue leans; then in a border tuft, Lavandula dentata.
Figure 63: On the right and at the top of this photograph, a branch laden with fruits of the Japor Medlar, (Eriobotrya). The large-leaved tree is the Strelitzia Augusta from southern Africa. In the foreground, a border of Julienne de Mahon. (The gardens of Villa St. Louis, Menton)
Figure 63a: The Villa St Louis c. 1910-20. Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum.
There is a shorter entry in Jardins botaniques de la Côte d’Azur, published in 1932, which gives a good overview, ‘At the other end of the Bay of Menton, in Garavan, adjoining the valley at the frontier border, the VILLA ST.-LOUIS is one of the most representative of the beautiful residences of the first winterers. The estate of the late Mrs. Hearn is barely 3,000 square meters (sic), but under the direction of Mr. Delrue, it is a little paradise. After arbors of Bignonia and lawns adorned with a profusion of Cycas and Ceratozamia of great beauty, the St.-Louis ravine, (humid, warm and shady) presents a wonderfully tropical aspect. It lacks only the tree fern to make it a copy of the famous valley of Montserrate, near Lisbon, nestled on the slopes of the Sintra Mountains. The site of Garavan is perfectly sheltered behind a high rocky wall. Monstera deliciosa sometimes ripen in the ravine, bananas ripen quite often, and even, in 1929, Kentias survived out of doors at Villa Valentine and a Caryota at Villa St.-Louis. A little higher up, in his crops, Mr. Delrue raises a profusion of horticultural flowers, Japanese medlars and a whole variety of oranges, lemons and citrons. He succeeds there, better than anyone, in these fashionable oddities that are the grafting of Cacti.’[15]
Figure 64: Postcard of the Pont St. Louis, 1925. On the left can be seen the part of the gardens on the east side of the house which descended into the ravine.
Mr. Delrue developed different hybrids for Ellen, naming one in her honor. The ‘Mrs. A W Hearn carnation’ is described as ‘a fully double flower, of a pretty pale salmon yellow color with a hint of dawn, and washed with bright pink in the upper third of the petals: very rigid stems.’[16]
Ellen died in 1931. She and Alfred had no children of their own and she left her Menton property to her brother Charles Joubert de la Ferté’s four living children. A year later, in February 1932, they auctioned off the contents of Ellen’s home. Sadly, also auctioned at this time were numerous exotic plants and trees from her garden. The Menton & Monte Carlo News reported that the garden’s beauty was spoilt as a result: ‘General regret will be felt at the dispersal and sale of the many rare and beautiful plants and shrubs which adorned the garden of the Villa St. Louis, and which had caused it to become one of the glories of Menton-Garavan and the Riviera.’
The villa suffered extensive damage during World War II, largely due to its strategic location near the Italian border and its position directly above a railway line. A current resident told me that a concrete gun emplacement remains in the garden from that time. After the war, Ellen’s heirs sold the villa to a developer from Nice who divided the villa into apartments and made some style inappropriate additions. In the 1960s, the garden endured further destruction when rubble from road construction above was dumped into it, leading to the collapse of walls and terraces. Today, only a few remnants of the original garden remain.
THE GARDENS OF THE VILLA MARIA SERENA, MENTON-GARAVAN
The Villa St. Louis gardens no longer exist in their original state. So, as with the Bennet gardens, I sought out another similar garden that I could visit. The Villa Maria Serena was built on the lot of land just below the Villa St. Louis. The two estates were separated only by the railroad tracks. The more elaborate Villa Maria Serena was constructed in 1886 for Count Louis-Alexandre Foucher de Careil by architect Scipion Jeansoulin and not, as previously thought, the famous architect Charles Garnier.[17]
It was sold in 1922 to British banker Henry Konig who doubled the size of the house and is responsible for the creation of the gardens as we see them today. The villa is featured in the A&E Network series Poirot in the episode titled The Mystery of the Blue Train.
Figure 65: View of Menton taken from the Pont St. Louis, circa 1870. Photographers: Miguel Aleo & Louis-Alphonse Davanne. Courtesy of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. The Villa St.-Louis is in the forefront of the photograph. The future Villa Maria Serena about 15 years later across the rail way tracks.
Figure 66: View of Menton-Garavan taken from the Pont St. Louis, 1890.[18] Photographer James Jackson. The Villa Maria Serena can be seen just behind the Villa St.-Louis.
To see the gardens, one must sign up for a guided tour. We met at 3pm on a somewhat cloudy day but it was pleasant enough for taking photographs. I was delighted to catch a glimpse of the Bennet’s Torre di Grimaldi from the drive, imagining it must have been the same view from the gardens of Villa St.-Louis when it still stood. The vista toward the old town and the bay likely remains strikingly similar as well.
Figure 67: The drive up to the Villa Maria Serena.
Figure 68: View from the gardens of the Villa Maria Serena of the Torre di Grimaldi (Dr. Bennet’s villa).
Figure 69: View towards the old town from the property of the Villa Maria Serena.
Figure 70: As the garden was on different levels, climbing plants could be found along retaining walls.
Figure 71: A glimpse of the villa from the drive.
Figure 72: The Villa Maria Serena.
Figure 73: Stairs from the forecourt of the villa to an upper garden.
Although the gardens here span a hectare and a half, it seems to me, that there is considerably less plant variety than those at Villa St. Louis. However, many of the palm trees are the same, including the Canary Island date palm, the California fan palm, the Mediterranean fan palm, the Sago palm, and the exotic Canary Islands dragon tree. According to our tour guide, many of these palm trees were purchased by Henry Konig fully grown. They were likely purchased locally from Eugène Delrue, Ellen Hearn’s chief gardener. The newspapers reported that for the 1931 Colonial Exhibition (Exposition coloniale internationale), twenty-five palm trees were shipped by train to Paris from Menton. Their seeds had been planted forty-two years previously by Mr. Delrue – incredibly that was in 1889. The newspaper further reported that, “These palm trees of the species phoenix canariensis are also the first to have been cultivated in Menton. Each of them weighs 5000 to 6000 kilos and as a wagon is needed for each tree, their transport will require a full train.”[19]
Figure 74: The Canary Islands dragon tree at the gardens of the Villa Maria Serena.
Figure 76: Cycas revoluta (Sago palm). The guide pointed out the cycads like this Sago Palm along the way, which haven’t evolved since prehistoric times.
Figure 77: A clump of Aloes.
Figure 78: The Chinese Fountain features papyrus plants and sacred lotus.
Figure 79: Detail of Chinese Fountain.
Figure 80: Path on the upper level of the gardens.
Figure 81: View looking north behind the Villa Maria Serena.
There are other British tropical gardens in Menton which are worth visiting. The Serre de la Madone, created by Major Lawrence Johnston, who also designed Hidcote Manor Garden in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire; also, Clos du Peyronnet, which was purchased by the Derrick and Barbara Waterfield in 1912 and until very recently remained in the Waterfield family. Inspired by Clos du Peyronnet and his grandparents' lives there, Giles Waterfield wrote The Long Afternoon, a novel that beautifully recreates the lost world of English expatriates between the wars.
Figure 82: The gardens at Serre de la Madone, Menton. Photograph by Laura Fitzmaurice
Just over the border into Italy are gardens established by the British as well which I hope someday to visit - the gardens at the Villa Boccanegra, founded by horticulturist Ellen Willmot in Ventimiglia and in Bordighera, the gardens of the Clarence Bicknell Museum and those of the Villa Etelinda, established by Lord Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore.
My stay in the Côte d'Azur and visits to its gardens inspires me to seek out more documentary evidence of the gardens Clotilde Brewster created, from her first home on Barton Street in London, to her last home at Beckley Park in Oxfordshire. In her letters she speaks enthusiastically of the hard work but rich rewards of a garden.
‘When are you coming here? We are anxiously awaiting you – we are burning to see the astonishment painted on your face when you stroll through our park. It’s really remarkable what can be done with a few square meters of dry sand and lots of genius! We are working from morning to night on our land; our hands are scratched, our faces torn by brambles, our shoes are falling from our feet and our clothes could not be given away to a beggar – but what is emerging is our orchard, our terraces and our avenues and paths. You won’t believe it - our garden is entirely terraced – we are building steps and bocages – we are seeding our lawns – and transplanting trees – it’s not the season but we are too impatient to wait and so far it’s been very successful; it snows and these good trees do not suspect we are in the sweet month of May.’ (Letter to H.B. Brewster from Clotilde, May 1906, The Rushes, Farnborourgh, Hants.)
Many thanks to the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lenhardt Library for scanning the images of the Saint Louis gardens from Georges Truffaut’s revue, Jardinage.
~ Laura Fitzmaurice, 2024
GET YOUR COPY OF THE BOOK Clotilde Brewster: Pioneering Woman Architect
NOTES:
[1] Bennet, James Henry. 1865. Winter in the South of Europe : Or, Mentone, the Riviera, Corsica, Sicily, and Biarritz, as Winter Climates. 3d ed. London: J. Churchill & Sons.], p. 11.
[2] Menton. Le Pont St-Louis. Frontiere italienne. Photographer: Emile Rouchonnat
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8470456r/f47.item.r=Rouchonnat%20Emile
[3] Maria Serena, histoire d'une belle demeure, Ou Païs Mentounasc (N° 155 du 01/09/2015)
[4] Sigaud, J.-F.-X. 1844. Du Climat et des Maladies du Brésil ou Statistique Médicale de cet Empire. Paris: Chez Fortin, Masson et Cie, Libraires, p. 155. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Du_Climat_et_des_Maladies_du_Br%C3%A9sil_ou/fs-8zQEACAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA155&printsec=frontcover&dq=Nayler
[5] Essay on the Law of Patents for New Inventions, by John Dyer Collier, 1803, p. 86. James Bennet, patent 324.
[6] James A. hearn & Son—Merchants for 100 years: Four generations of same family have built up the present business from A humble beginning in A small shop — george arnold hearn first of the family. (1927). Women’s Wear Daily, 35(43), 3-3, 7.
[7] Revue horticole, no 30, 16 Nov 1915, p. 578.
[8] Ces dames bienfaitrices, Ou Païs Mentounasc (167 du 01/09/2018)
[9] Image copied from Les Jardins de la Villa St. Louis by G. Truffaut which was reprinted in the journal Ou Païs Mentounasc (N° 107 du 01/09/2003).
[10] Image copied from Les Jardins de la Villa St. Louis by G. Truffaut which was reprinted in the journal Ou Païs Mentounasc (N° 107 du 01/09/2003).
[11] Une grande dame : Madame HEARN Ou Païs Mentounasc (N° 127 du 01/09/2008)
[12] Ces dames bienfaitrices, Ou Païs Mentounasc (167 du 01/09/2018)
[13] Will of Mrs. Julia Frances Hélène Joubert de la Ferté, widow of Alfred Williams Hearn, unpublished research of historian Rolland Ghersi, courtesy of Nicolas Ghersi.
[14] Truffaut, Georges. 1924. Les Jardins de la Villa St. Louis. Jardinage, no.80, pp. 202-207.
[15] Chouard, Pierre. 1932. “Jardins botaniques de la Côte d’Azur.” La Terre et la vie 2 (3): 156–76. https://doi.org/10.3406/revec.1932.2609
[16] Revue horticole : journal d’horticulture practique. Paris: Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique, 1912, p. 124.
[17] Maria Serena, histoire d'une belle demeure, Ou Païs Mentounasc (N° 155 du 01/09/2015)
[18] Vue of Menton, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8553847s/f67.item
[19] Maria Serena, histoire d'une belle demeure, Ou Païs Mentounasc (N° 155 du 01/09/2015)