Architecture

Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc: A Timeless Legend on the French Riviera

Nestled in a spectacular botanical garden with stunning views on the Mediterranean, the idyllic Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc has attracted scintillating international guests for 150 years.

Created in the nineteenth century as a retreat for artists and writers, Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc at Cap d'Antibes continues to captivate an international clientele as an exclusive retreat today. The tropical paradise attracted Lost Generation writers such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose Tender is the Night was set at Eden Roc. Artists--including Monet, Matisse, Chagall, Picasso, and Damien Hirst--have drawn inspiration from the enchanted setting and its lush botanical gardens. Master photographers Jacques Henri Lartigue and Slim Aarons famously captured guests splashing in the Mediterranean or lounging in the sun next to the iconic seawater swimming pool carved in the basalt cliff.
The secluded resort, located between Nice and Cannes, has always been a favorite haven on the French Riviera for A-list celebrities--from Marlene Dietrich to Orson Welles, and from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to Sharon Stone--during the Cannes film festival, and for secluded family holidays, ideal for unwinding at the green and white seaside cabanas where time stands still, sampling the bar's iconic Bellinis, or enjoying creative locally-sourced cuisine. The hotel's storied history is full of romance, humor, mystery, and legend.
Built on one of the most alluring sites on the Rivera, the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc is the epitome of beauty, timeless elegance, and discretion; it has been a home away from home for generations of artists, photographers, authors, politicians, and Hollywood stars.

About The Author

Historian Alexandra Campbell has written extensively on the early twentieth century, contributed to Villa Astor, and coauthored Esmond: The Lost Idol. Graydon Carter is is coeditor of Air Mail and former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair (1992-2017).

  • Publish Date: April 27, 2021
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Category: Photography - Subjects & Themes - Architectural & Industrial
  • Publisher: Flammarion
  • Trim Size: 9-1/2 x 12-1/4
  • Pages: 312
  • US Price: $85.00
  • CDN Price: $115.00
  • ISBN: 978-2-08-020393-9

Reviews

"The hotel will commemorate its milestone birthday this spring with a coffee-table book, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc: A Legend on the French Riviera, to be published by Flammarion in May in the U.S. The book features 300 pages of historical anecdotes and iconic images, from Jacques Henri Lartigue’s moody shots at the opening of the Eden-Roc restaurant in 1920 to Slim Aarons’s famous pool scenes and portraits of John Lennon and Yoko Ono posing near the rocks in 1970." —WSJ.  MAGAZINE 

"In her new book Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc: A Timeless Legend on the French Riviera (Flammarion), Alexandra Campbell showcases the legendary property in Antibes along the French Riviera in all its glory. . .While Oetker Collection, which manages the hotel, has renovated and modernized over its illustrious history, the property has never lost its heart and soul—or popularity." —DUJOUR.COM

"For more than a century, the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on the French Riviera has stood as the pinnacle of luxury resort destinations. It’s been the setting of an enchanting Karl Lagerfeld–helmed Chanel runway show, the site of glamorous Hollywood-style parties, and the location of Natalie Portman’s drama-filled Dior commercials. It’s been captured in photographs by Slim Aarons, literature by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and sketches by Pablo Picasso. Now a massive new tome is exploring the history and heritage of the resort, even predating its construction when Cap d’Antibes was a wonderland recreated in the romantic paintings of Claude Monet and Paul Signac. Hotel du Cap Eden Roc: A Timeless Legend on the French Riviera (Flammarion) by Alexandra Campbell with an introduction by former Vanity Fair editor in chief, Graydon Carter, follows the French Rivera’s noble history through the Belle Epoque and Jazz Ages right up to the present day." —GALERIEMAGAZINE.COM

"Even if you’re not planning an escape to the French Riviera this summer, this book just might be able to quench some wanderlust by providing a look inside one of the world’s most glamorous hotels." —ELLEDECOR.COM

"There are few places in the world that have been elevated into the pantheon of Instagram's wanderlust moodboards quite like the swimming pool at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France. Built into the craggy cliffside, the water appears to blend seamlessly into the ocean below, and holidaymakers—as photographer and frequent hotel fixture Slim Aarons often referred to them—have been known to spend several weeks of the summer season languishing on a chaise in the South of France sunshine. But much more lies beyond its shores, and a new tome, entitled Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc: A Timeless Legend on the French Riviera, explores each and every glitzy piece of this hideaway’s 150-year history. Inside, readers are transported back to the property’s early days through never before seen anecdotes, documents, and photographs—and here, we have a first look at a select handful of archival imagery." —VOGUE

Author Bookshelf: Alexandra Campbell

Author Bookshelf: Graydon Carter