Nestled in a rockside overlooking the Mediterranean sea, the garden has one of Menton’s most stunning views. The owner, who was also involved in the restoration of Eileen Gray’s iconic house, E-1027, followed the detailed descriptions of its creator to give new life to a unique location.
Text and photos Camilla Alfthan
IT’S BEEN 100 years since the Franco-German illustrator and designer Férdinand Bac (1859– 1952) put his finishing touches on Les Colombières – one of Menton’s seven listed gardens that sprang up in the late 19th century, when Côte d’Azur became the aristocracy’s favourite winter retreat.
Bac, who was the illegitimate grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, created the house and garden for his friends Emile and Caroline Ladan-Bokairy and ended up living and working in this enticing oasis – a place he designed as a journey through the tales of the Odyssey in the form of sculptures, mosaics and frescoes.
For the past 30 years it has belonged to the British businessman Michael Likierman who moved to France in the 1970s. When his late wife, Margaret, no longer wanted to garden at their home in Saint-Remy de Provence – “too hot in summer and too cold in winter, with the mistral winds drying everything out” – she suggested they move to a better climate.
Situated on the southern side of the Mercantour mountain, Colombières has an unspoiled and unique view of the sea and Menton’s old town. The villa is a former farm house of the 18th-century which Bac rebuilt in a neoclassical style with columns and frescoes. The facade is deep red and ochre, as are the structures that frame the seven-hectare property, interspersed with slender cypresses and trimmed hedges.
The Italian loggia with a view of the obelisk garden and Menton’s old town.
A jardin vert it is evergreen and Bac’s homage to the region’s fauna and flora.
The further away you get from the house, the more dramatic the garden becomes, with deep slopes and cliffs, towering rosewood trees, pines, palms and an old olive grove with an evocative light.
“When Bac built one of the stairs, there was a large olive tree in the middle of it all, and he left it standing, which I think is a wonderful idea,” says Liekerman, who has left the garden as it was 100 years ago.
“All we have done is restore. Since Bac had made detailed drawings and descriptions, it was easy to recreate.
We only omitted a single statue, which was a plaster cast from the Louvre. It was probably in good taste in the 1920s, but now it is a bit naff.”
Les Jarres with a trompe l’oeuil effect and an unspilt view on the Mediterranean.
Instead Liekerman hired a sculptor to make a relief sculpture of Orpheus, which is set into a rock on the western side of the garden on the cliff walk overlooking the Mediterranean sea.
Here, everything is a little wilder than in the other gardens, which are connected by several paths and stairs.
At each place, there is a view and a perspective. Near the house, an Italian loggia overlooks a circular obelisk garden and the sparkling sea with the old town of Menton on the horizon. Two rows of cypresses that went up the mountain but nowhere in particular were given a sculpture at the end to give it focus.
The stroll takes you through the stories of Ulysses, symbolized in fifteen different places with sculptures, mosaics and frescoes. Here, with a mosaic of Odysseus and Nausicaa from the Ancient Greek Myths.
It took five years to restore both the house and the garden, which, as a new addition, was equipped with an irrigation system.
The stone walled terraces, originally used to grow flowers that were sold at the local market, were planted with Margaret’s collection of special plants from around the world. Trees that had been infested with pests were replaced with new ones.
“Ferdinand Bac, would say, ‘Not bad, you’ve moved on’. And I’m sure Margaret would be pleased too.”
A passionate supporter of the Conservatoire du littoral which looks after France’s exceptional sites, Liekerman was also involved in the restoration of Eileen Gray’s iconic house, E-1027 down by the coast. The project lasted almost ten years and was completed in 2023.
“The interesting thing is that both places were created at the same time in the 1920s. With Colombières, Bac tried to adapt the modern world to the ancient one. He was a modernist who looked back. Eileen Gray, on the other hand, was a modernist who looked forward and tried to invent the way we live tomorrow.
Curiously they both worked in the same period, and they could both be described as modernists, working in very different ways.
There’s a connection but I’m not sure that Eileen Gray ever visited the Colombières. I’m sure she could have done and maybe she did, but there’s no record of it. And I’m not even sure that Bac visited E-1027, or if its very much to his taste. The only common element is the period and the fact that I’ve been involved in restoring both of them.”
Both Ferdinand Bac and Eileen Gray experimented with concrete, which at the time was a modern material that had not yet been mastered. Since Bac only used it for garden structures, it was far less complicated to renovate than Gray’s house by the sea.
“It was in the worst state. It had to be rebuilt from scratch, while all we did here was clean it up and rebuild where necessary. Both were done inadequately, one did not understand everything about this new material, and how to look after it – especially by the sea where the salty air is quite corrosive.”
At Colombières, Bac was often visited by the Mexican architect Luis Barragan, who was fascinated by his style and colours, and the way people live in his universe. Blue was Bac’s favourite colour, and inside the villa he had painted murals in all the shades of Mediterranean blue.
When the family celebrated the 100th anniversary of Colombières, it happened on the day of Menton’s annual Fête de la musique, with a host of concerts all over the garden. It was also a celebration for all the enthusiasts who have the honour of keeping Menton’s green cultural heritage alive, tells Michael Liekerman, who is now helping with another of Menton’s protected gardens, the Jardin de la Madone, which is located further up the mountain.
“After doing business in France for decades, I’ve learned that you have to give something back. That’s why I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time.”
The Orpheus Walk with a relief sculpture set into a rock and the Ladan-Bokairys who commissioned Ferdinand Bac to design Colombières.
