Monaco villas

The historical villas of Monaco represent a significant example of residential architecture. Originally seen as symbols of Belle Epoque luxury, they were once emblematic of the principality itself. However, by the 1950s they were viewed by Monaco's Consultative Committee on Public Works as a social anachronism. While recent years have seen a renewed appreciation within the principality for villa architecture, the number of historic villas remaining reduces each year.

The urban history of Monaco and its villas has, until recently, been subject to poor documentation and archiving. As of 2016, Monaco still had no official preservation laws governing historic buildings.

In 1960 Prince Rainier III established the Monaco Economic Development Corporation to attract new business to the Principality. It was successful in this, but the influx of new investors and workers resulted in a wave of demolitions of Belle Epoque villas to enable the construction of apartments and new hotels.

Following major development in the 1970s, Prince Rainier III banned high rise development in the Principality. However his successor, Prince Albert II, overturned the Sovereign Order. This, a further influx of new residents, accelerated the destruction of the architectural heritage of single family villas for new luxury apartments. Demands for affordable public housing led to further villa demolitions. In 2013 an official publication documenting the urban history of the principality called it a place where "architecture is temporary".

In a nation where public dissent is rare, there was significant criticism of the destruction. The 2013 demolition of the Art Deco Hiver d'Sporting ("Winter Sporting") Club building, and the rotunda of the Hôtel de Paris and its 1900 extensions, caused further dismay, and the establishment of protest group "Monaco Patrimoine", whose leader was quoted as saying: "Monaco is destroying, without scruples, villas from the Belle Epoque…Monaco is losing its identity", and it was termed "a genocide of memories".

In 2015 a major row broke out between the Government and the elected National Council over the demolition of the picturesque Belle Epoque-style 1931 apartment building Le Palais de la Plage (37 Avenue Princesse Grace - originally Boulevard des Bas-Moulins), which originally sat on the beachfront, and was replaced by an apartment building of the same name. The President of the Cultural and Heritage Mission of the National Council, Daniel Boeri, termed the demolition "brutal", and that Monegasque citizens were being treated by the Government as "children incapable of reason". While a heritage law and Heritage Institute was still in planning, he said: "That we are still at this point in 2015 is breathtaking... The example of the Palais de la Plage is a perfect illustration of its absolute necessity."

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