Juan les Pins

Juan-les-Pins is the seaside district of the municipality of Antibes Juan-les-Pins. It comprises a narrow stretch of urbanised coastline bordered by a sandy beach in the Juan Gulf, extending from the boundary with the neighbouring municipality of Vallauris to the start of Cap d’Antibes. Devoted entirely to summer tourism centred around its beach, its economy and population are marked by strong seasonal fluctuations.

The history of Juan-les-Pins is an emblematic example of the early transition from winter resort to summer seaside resort on the Côte d’Azur. This gives rise to a distinctive history divided into two very different periods, separated by the major upheavals of the First World War: from 1882 to 1914, the creation from scratch and slow development of a residential district of winter homes in the municipality of Antibes, then from 1919 to the 1950s, the “American moment”, during which the beach became the summer resort’s focal point.

The creation of the housing development for the winter season, 1888-1914:

The natural landscape of Juan-les-Pins was already known and visited by painters in the 19th century, drawn by the picturesque scenery of the large pine forest running along the dunes and the beach, as well as the coves on the coastal road leading to the cape.

1882 marked the creation of Juan-les-Pins’ housing development but the real trigger, when viewed in a wider geographical context, is that of a vast speculative operation involving the usual three players of such ventures: the investor, the architect, and the notary. The previous year, a consortium comprising the Cannes-based bank Rigal, the Cannes banker Edouard Signoret, a majority of traders from Marseille, and the Parisian bankers Goudchaux founded the Société Anonyme des Terrains de la Méditerranée with a view to purchasing and building large estates in Saint-Raphaël, Nice, and Vallauris (Departmental Archives of Var, 3E 81/95, 25 July 1881). Signoret brought to the new company all the assets of the former Société Anonyme des Terrains du Golfe-Juan, founded in 1875, (Departmental Archives of Alpes-Maritimes [now Arch. dép. Alpes-Maritimes]  3E 93/96, 27 August 1875), with the aim of acquiring and developing the municipal forest of Mauvarre, located on the western slope of Golfe Juan, at the boundary with the municipalities of Cannes and Vallauris. The forest became the new residential district of Cannes Eden and its grand hotel, the Hôtel Métropole. Alongside the creation of the Société des Terrains de la Méditerranée, the same key figures founded the Société Foncière de Cannes et du Littoral, tasked with developing the other shore of Golfe Juan, the Antibes coastline, the site around the pine forest. This led to the creation of Juan-les-Pins on 12 March 1882 (Arch. dép. Alpes-Maritimes, 8J 312, 314, 317). While the Rigal Bank and Signoret were the main shareholders of the Foncière de Cannes, there was very little involvement by traders, but rather some of the most distinguished members of the Cannes resort aristocracy: the major shareholders included the Duke of Vallombrosa and Princess Wittgenstein, the wife of the German Chancellor Hohenlohe, and the Prince of Essling. Better still, in an ambitious move in 1884, the Duke of Albany, son of Queen Victoria, was approached about the possibility of purchasing all the assets of the Foncière de Cannes et du Littoral, making the emerging Juan-les-Pins a British resort. However, the Duke’s sudden death in Cannes brought these negotiations to an abrupt end (Arch. dép. Alpes-Maritimes, idem). The promotional aspect was essential for launching the new resort and selling the plots of land. During this launch phase, high-society played a leading role, as it set the tone for the emerging resort. For prospective owners, it represented the promise of exclusive princely gatherings. The Foncière’s shareholder base was not limited to the aristocracy. It also included local dignitaries and high-ranking officials from Paris, who enjoyed winter holidays on the Riviera. The most notable figures are the magistrate Robert Soleau, the diplomat Ferdinand Dervieu, and Paul Négrin, the owner of the Bocca glassworks. The process of purchasing land and creating the development was a delicate phase during which it was necessary to maintain good relations with local municipalities to obtain their backing. Consequently, there was no hestitation to attempt to secure popular support during local elections. Thus, Ferdinand Dervieu served as the mayor of Vallauris from 1888 to 1891, while the Cannes shareholder Claude Vidal became the mayor of Antibes in 1882, succeeded by Robert Soleau in 1884 (Municipal Archives of Antibes [now Arch. mun. Antibes], 42S 49). Without overstating the case, it is clear that the Foncière de Cannes et du Littoral controlled the municipalities bordering Gulf Juan between 1882 and 1901. One figure stands out among this circle of investors and the early inhabitants of the resort: Henry Lévêque de Vilmorin. As an aristocrat descended from a lineage of botanists, he combined scholarly pursuits with entrepreneurship: a seed selector, he became a magnate in the seed trade. In Juan-les-Pins, he invented the concept of industrious leisure; as a shareholder in the Foncière, Henry de Vilmorin acquired plots intended for the creation of a vast estate that covered a large portion of the Pinède and stretching to the Empel neighbourhood, near the garden of the botanist Gustave Thuret. The Vilmorin estate served both as a residence and a trial garden, featuring cold greenhouses and a hillside dedicated to Mediterranean horticulture and plant varieties (Trebuchet Georges, Une famille, une maison: Vilmorin-Andrieux. Verrières-le-Buisson: Éd. L’Historique de Verrières-le-Buisson, [1982], p. 49).

Alongside the investors, the key figures in the estate’s development were architects. These professionals drew up the plans for the new resort. Juan-les-Pins was the result of the imagination of Honoré Vidal, who worked in Cannes, and, above all, that of the Parisian architect Ernest Macé. Their initial plan for the development was an ideal of seaside urbanism, a garden city where plots were lined up along wide avenues and squares, with the train station occupying a central location to the north [fig.1].

The original plan for the Juan-les-Pins estate, 1882,
arch. dép. Alpes-Maritimes 1Fi 1861
(882+2112), 100%, bent 6 stops, 1/100 s, R86.8, G110.8, B129.5

The plots to the east were organised in a semi-circle, reminiscent of the crescents found in Georgian resorts in England (Arch. dép Alpes-Maritimes, 1Fi 1861). However, the plans did not take into account of topographical constraints or the actual boundaries of the Foncière estate. The urban utopia depicted in the plans proved effective as an advertising tool, revealing the aspirations of future buyers: a new town built on hygienist principles, devoted entirely to residential living, all set within a pristine Mediterranean landscape.

Did Juan-les-Pins meet the financial expectations of its shareholders? The creation of the resort coincided with the collapse of the Union Générale, the major bank serving conservative Catholic interests. This bankruptcy triggered a stock market crash, the effects of which were felt for decades. The Rigal Bank was caught up in the turmoil and declared bankruptcy in 1884, which in turn dragged the Foncière de Cannes into liquidation in 1901. Despite the financial collapse, land continued to sell, and the neighbourhood gradually rose from the ground. In 1895, there were 45 villas and 92 villas in 1903 (Settineri Marie-Antoinette, “Antibes under the Mayorship of Robert Soleau” in Recherches Régionales, Nice, Departmental Archives of  Alpes-Maritimes, No. 163, July-September 2002, pp. 85-102). On behalf of the Foncière, Ernest Macé built public gardens, streets, and even a train station in 1885, as well as a church. From 1894, three hotels were open, including the Grand-Hôtel owned by the Antibes entrepreneur Jean Pellepot and works were undertaken to demolish the city walls in 1895. For any seaside resort, the casino was an iconic landmark and a focal point for residents. Centrally located in this new town, its silhouette contributed to its identity. The one in Juan-les-Pins opened in 1909, but by 1913, the Société Anonyme du Casino et des Bains de Mer de Juan-les-Pins declared bankruptcy (Arch. mun. Antibes, Jean Pellepot collection 58S).

In essence, the development of seaside capitalism in the 19th century represented, the privatisation and gentrification of vast stretches of the coastline, ultimately forcing urban boundaries into natural areas. What was the response of the local population and, more broadly, public opinion? The shareholders’ electoral successes in municipal elections point to a degree of public acceptance. It is important to remember the allure of Cannes’ success for its neighbours and the creation of a neighbourhood devoted to aristocratic holidaying offered local municipalities hope that it too would benefit from a windfall from tourism. However, this view was not shared by those concerned about the natural environment, who denounced the environmental damage caused by the developments. Stephen Liégeard’s 1887 description of Juan-les-Pins in his eponymous guide, La Côte d’Azur, is very revealing: “Speculation, ever on the lookout, has set its sights on this solitude. Egypt had its wounds; the Riviera has its Foncières. Therefore, a public limited company was formed, purchasing land and dividing it into lots. Streets and boulevards were laid out; a train station stopped travellers, a hotel beckoned them” (Liégeard, Stephen, La Côte d’Azur, Paris, Quantin, 1887, p. 164). In 1912, public authorities became aware of this phenomenon: the municipality purchased the pine forest of Juan-les-Pins from the Vilmorin family and the Foncière and it became one of the first protected natural sites in France under the 1906 law concerning artistic and historical sites (Arch. mun. Antibes, 1N 9, 2R 12).

The American moment and the first summer spot on the Côte d’Azur

From 1919, Juan-les-Pins underwent a transformation, quickly turning into an international summer resort. This golden age, from 1919 to the early 1950s, was associated with an “American moment”.

The fate of Juan-les-Pins was transformed when this small, half-seaside, half-rural resort, became the summer headquarters in Europe for leading figures of the Lost Generation between 1921 and 1939. These avant-garde intellectuals and artists found themselves at odds with American society which had fallen into puritanism, isolationism, and Prohibition in 1919, following the war and the death of President Wilson. Chance played a key role in this trajectory: The composer Cole Porter featured among the young Americans who arrived in 1917 to fight alongside the Allies. Some decided to remain in France. In the summer of 1921, Cole Porter rented one of the large estates on the Cap d’Antibes, the Château de la Garoupe (Yale University, Gilmore Music Library, The Cole Porter Collection, Series IV photographs, MSS82, Albums 1 and 2 La Garoupe). In many respects, Cole Porter was a trailblazer. His friend and former Yale classmate, Gérald Murphy, followed him two years later. Gérald Murphy came from the family that owned the Marck Cross Company chain of stores, while his wife Sara hailed from a rich American family. In July 1923, they spent their first summer in Antibes with their children, marking the start of a series of summers that would last until the 1930s (Yale University, Beinecke Library, Sara and Gerald Murphy Papers, Series III: Photographs, YCAL MSS 458, three France albums, including Cap d’Antibes, 1920-1924).

The lifestyle of the Murphy family during their holidays in Antibes reflected a radical modernity that made Juan-les-Pins’ name as a major destination in the Roaring Twenties. This modernity stemmed from a leisure-oriented way of life centred around the beach, which became a social space. They spent their days at the beach, enjoying picnics, sunbathing, games, and music in the company of artistic and literary friends who would join them from Paris [fig. 2].

Sarah Murphy, Olga and Pablo Picasso, La Garoupe Beach, August 1923. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Picasso regularly spent summers in Juan (Andral, Jean-Louis, McCully, Marilyn, and Raeburn, Michael (dir.), Picasso Côte d’Azur, Paris, Hazan, 2018). Cocteau, Fernand Léger, and fellow expatriates such as Ernest Hemingway, Man Ray, John Dos Passos, and Francis Scott Fitzgerald, in voluntary exile, gathered on the Mediterranean coast to embrace the carefree spirit of the 1920s. Francis Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald spent summers in Juan from 1922 to 1928. Scottie wrote The Great Gatsby at the Villa Saint-Louis in 1925. His other novel, Tender Is the Night, published in 1934, recounts his experiences on the Riviera. Life in the sun, on the beach, exposed, tanned bodies, everything that would come to define leisure culture in the second half of the 20th century, began with the Murphys and their companions on La Garoupe Beach and soon flourished in Juan-les-Pins.

From the close-knit circle of the Murphy’s family and friends, summer life at the beach became the defining lifestyle of Juan-les-Pins, with the emergence of a new player: another American, Frank Jay Gould. While the first brought modernity, the second brought financial power, promoting the resort at the same time as his own ventures.

In Juan-les-Pins, visitors no longer sought eternal springs or mild winters, as in the old resorts of the Côte d’Azur, but were attracted by extreme weather, summer heat, and light. The beach became the hub of the resort’s social scene and a new relationship with the body was fostered, which was increasingly revealed in public with activities such as water sports and sunbathing, the new symbol of belonging to this leisure society [fig. 3].

Roger Broders, PLM poster, ca 1927,
coll. Georges Brych.

Juan-les-Pins embodied radical modernity from the Roaring Twenties through to the early years of the post-war boom, a modernity inspired by the United States that was flourishing in Europe at this specific point on the French Riviera. The modernity of the holiday resort model in Juan up until 1940 was visible in the promotion of new artistic expressions, new media, and a new-found recognition of youth. The resort’s architectural landscape was unique, with its many new Art Deco style buildings: the neo-Provençal style that formed the Provencal identity, the last grand hotel built on the Riviera, as well as the projects by the local architect Georges Dikansky, including Hôtel Juana and Café le Colombier, as well as the villas designed by the American architect Barry Dierks, such as Villa Aujourd’hui. Music was fresh and youthful; in France, only the summer night-life of Juan-les-Pins rivalled the vibrant nights of Paris. Jazz was played in the cabarets. The night-life and musical scene continued to thrive well into the 1970s, long after the American moment had passed.

While American visitors epitomised modernity on the Côte d’Azur during the Roaring Twenties, they did not form a large part of the total tourist population in Juan-les-Pins. In the immediate post-war years, their numbers remained modest compared to British, Swiss, or even Czechoslovakian visitors during the inter-war period (Arch. mun. Antibes, 3R2). For the 1935 summer season, the municipal census shows 308 American residents, with 368 in 1936. British residents numbered 1,050 in 1935 and 1,617 in 1936. Swiss residents numbered 768 in 1935 and 818 in 1936. Czechoslovakian residents outnumbered Americans: 490 in 1935 and 708 in 1936. Therefore, the image of an American resort does not stem from a concentration of American nationals but has more to do with the general fascination exerted by the lifestyle of the small American community in Juan-les-Pins. It is important to consider the long-term impact of the First World War on tourist regions in Europe. Indeed, both national and local authorities, as well as industry professionals, understood the impact of the decline in the traditional holiday clientèle: the political revolutions across Europe, the fall of empires and aristocracies, and their ruin, even among victorious nations, marked the end of pre-1914 tourism. At the same time, the United States was changing from being a debtor to becoming the primary creditor of old Europe. America’s industrial and financial power during the war fascinated Europeans, and the idea that transatlantic tourists were the new tourism clientèle on Côte d’Azur gained ground. From 1917 to 1919, stays were organised for convalescing soldiers and American servicemen on leave, funded by Franco-American organisations to boost the morale of troops as well as to support local economies. The Riviera leave area  for military personnel and the Riviera Hospital Centre for convalescents requisitioned hotels and laid on leisure activities for soldiers on the Côte d’Azur. They became key players in the recovery of national tourism (Ubeda Nathalie, La Côte d’Azur réinventée? Repos, escales et démonstration de puissance de l’armée américaine Nice, Université Côte d’Azur, PhD thesis, 2022). It was hoped that these future visitors would return once peace was restored, counting on the themes of fraternity and the “Lafayette spirit” (Arch, Mun. Antibes, 3R6). In this context of fascination for American power, French public opinion appeared prepared to embrace a modernity characterised by the American way of life. The allure of the American way of life was obvious in Juan-les-Pins, particularly among families from the former aristocratic holiday resort of the pre-war period. The letters of Louise de Vilmorin recount her summers in Juan-les-Pins which emulates this new way of life [fig. 4].

Edmond Lahaye, Silhouette of summer holidaymaker in beachwear, drawing for postcard, ca 1930, arch. dép. Alpes-Maritimes 220J 1/55.

Married to an American businessman, in 1927, she was invited by her brother to stay at his property in Juan-les-Pins. In April 1929, she moved there with her cousins Colette d’Arjuzon and Louis d’Estienne d’Orves: “Our entire morning is devoted to sunbathing on the terrace, after completely coating our bodies with grease” (Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet [now BLJD], a letter from Colette d’Arjuzon and Louise de Vilmorin to Félix d’Arjuzon, 1 April 1929. “We are having a great time in our Hermitage: we paint, play the guitar, and are presenting a play in verse about our stay here… we barely even leave the garden! It’s the perfect life!” (BLJD, letter to her aunt Thérèse d’Arjuzon, 5 April 1929).

The limits of seasonality

Thus, the circle of the Lost Generation established in Antibes during the inter-war period encouraged the American moment in Juan-les-Pins. A transfer of lifestyle and attitudes was underway in Juan-les-Pins and for about thirty years, the town set the tone for the development of beach and sunshine culture on the French Riviera. before spreading gradually around the world in the second half of the 20th century [fig. 5].

Victor Raymon, poster, 1935, arch. mun. Antibes 55fi40.

As the attraction of summer by the sea became more widespread, Juan gradually lost its unique character. It was music that helped the American moment to continue: in 1960, the first edition of the Jazz à la Pinède Festival was held. It quickly became the annual meeting point in Europe for American jazz musicians, who had never stopped visiting Juan-les-Pins.

However, the resort was trapped in its seasonal activity. Most of the shops and accommodation continued to close at the end of summer to reopen in the spring, similar to the ski resorts in mountain regions. Following the pioneering model of Juan-les-Pins, other large resorts on the Côte d’Azur succeeded in making themselves attractive in the summer whilst also maintaining their winter appeal. However, year-round tourism never caught on in Juan, with the resort remaining bound to its summer model: tourism continues to be concentrated between May and September.

Alain BOTTARO

Bibliography

  • Andral Jean-Louis, McCully Marylin et Raeburn Michael (dir.), 2018, Picasso Côte d’Azur, Paris, Hazan, 160p.
  • Dumenil Renaud, 2010, Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, le plaisir déployé, Paris, Ed. Equinoxe, 224 p.
  • Gay Jean-Christophe, 2023, «La Riviera franco-italienne, modèle de lieu touristique et notion géographique» in actes du colloque, Riviera française et italienne, similitudes et différences, Bordighera, Istituto internazionale di Studi liguri.