Odetta Medich's French Riviera glamorous bolt hole: Title Tattle
All the attention was on the art filled, stark white matrimonial home of Ron and Odetta Medich this week, given its eventual, but rather rapid sale this week.
It was sold for around $38 million by the estranged couple.
But Title Tattle's antennae has been elsewhere too.
Back in the south of France where some of my recent sojourn was spent tracking down the retreat of Odetta Medich, the noted arts patron of Point Piper where Tasmanian tiger sculptures by Caroline Rothwell feature poolside on Sydney Harbour.
There'd been whispers ever since 2008 that she'd acquired a bolthole, though not much more than the suggestion it was somewhere between Monaco and St Tropez.
In mid-2010 provocatively Odetta tweeted: "st tropez is so much better than miami!!!!! love love love st tropez!!!!!!"
Earlier this year Title Tattle spotted The World Of Interiors magazine, January edition.
While the apartment was not the one featured on the cover, there was a small noteworthy mention; 'Chameleon on the Cote d'Azur: The French Salon that turns into a New York loft'.
Inside, the article made no mention of the owner's name, but the art work was the clue, as it was Odetta through and through.
It was especially the Caroline Rothwell mantlepiece sculpture that piqued Title Tattle's attention, and then the mention of the expatriate Australian architect Carl Pickering of Lazzarini Pickering. He is best known as having done Icebergs restaurant in 2003 overlooking Bondi Beach, but he has been Rome-based since forming the partnership in 1983.
The magazine revealed it was in the coastal Beaulieu-sur-Mer town which, when it comes to the French Riviera, Title Tattle happens to know like the back of one's hand, second only to St Jean Cap Ferrat.
Courtesy of Google Maps.
The apartment's location, with its distinctive gargoyles, was indeed within view from the much frequented 81 route bus-stop.
The magazine spiel suggested the apartment was "the riddle on the Riviera".
Photo: Matteo Piazza. Source: World of Interiors, January edition.
"How do you give a Belle Epoque apartment on the Cote d’Azur the party-ready functionality of a New York loft?
"You knock down the walls, replace them with panels that are actually doors – and scatter liberally with reflective black surfaces leading to ‘secret’ spaces," the magazine's Lee Marshall suggested.
The interior photography by Matteo Piazza revealed the restored stucco work, marble fireplace and newly installed pointe de hongrie oak parquet flooring inside the apartment.
Photos: Matteo Piazza. Source: World of Interiors, January edition.
Set on the busy road midway between Monte Carlo and Nice, the four storey Royal Residence has around 20 occupant buzzers with Odetta Medich having the split-level patio balcony apartment. It appears to have valley views of the town, but nothing much of the Mediterranean sea in view.
The Idea Interni builder's website gives photographic details on the 2010 project. Ditto the stoneworks company, Italworks as the project progressed.
Source: Ideainterni
Odetta, is Ron's second wife, 20 years his junior. The SMH investigative editor Kate McClymont once suggested the Lithuanian-born Mrs Medich had spent $5 million on the then unidentified French Riviera bolt hole.
And Title Tattle will have to defer to Kate's price advisory given the difficulties of navigating the French commune's title transfers. Estate agent shop windows had prices ranges from €135,000 (A$195,000) for studio apartments to the dearest on offer at €4.2 million (A$6.4 million). And of course then there's the extraordinary renovation which these interiors show unfold. Possibly an over capitalisation?
It is within a 1900 townhouse, which the magazine describes as handsome without pretension, Belle Epoque without too many frills and furbelows.
Some of the locals know of her as Mme Odetta Chtouikite.
Feature photo of Beaulieu-sur-Mer: Ramón Cutanda López. Source: Flickr/Creative Commons.