"La Leopolda" 2004 Safra, Lily

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SAFRA, Lily

Lily Safra (née Watkins; also Cohen, Monteverde and Bendahan; 30 December 1934 – 9 July 2022) was a … Read more SAFRA, Lily

Lily Safra (née Watkins; also Cohen, Monteverde and Bendahan; 30 December 1934 – 9 July 2022) was a Brazilian-Monegasque billionaire and socialite who amassed considerable wealth through her four marriages. She had a significant art collection and owned the historic Villa Leopolda on the French Riviera. Her net worth was estimated at $1.3 billion. She became strongly engaged with philanthropy when she married the banker Edmond Safra, and this continued through their foundation after his death in 1999.

Photography by Fritz von der Schulenburg

Introduction by Karen Howes

[183] pp.

Privately Printed

2004

Mrs. Safra had this book commissioned, 250 copies in total, and gave it to her friends.

12" x 10"

*slight scuffing to cloth boards*

Hardcover with green linen boards in a matching slipcase. Book and slipcase are both in very good condition.

Most homes, no matter how grand, never become the subject of one book, let alone two. La Leopolda is the exception. American architect Ogden Codman purchased and extensively renovated La Leopolda in 1929. He published a book about the home, which is now uncommon. Following Codman, the home had a string of owners, including Gianni and Marella Agnelli. In the 1980s, the home was purchased and meticulously restored by Edmond and Lily Safra with the help of Renzo Mongiardino. Following Edmond’s death, Lily put together this second monograph. It is a gorgeous and sumptuous tribute to their restoration, with over one hundred pages of color images depicting both the interiors and exteriors of this grand estate.

“It was in 1985 that Edmond and Lily Safra first chanced upon the ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ it’s glorious architecture in need of restoration, the interior weather-damaged and the grounds in ruins. The romantic potential of the estate consumed them both from the first moment. It was a mutual ‘coup de foudre,’ which was to translate itself into an overwhelming love for the property.”

An unidentified Russian billionaire has spent $750 million to buy a villa on the French Riviera, demolishing the previous global record, which was set by Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's $114 million purchase of his London mansion in 2004.
The unnamed Russian bought La Leopolda, a sumptuous villa on the Cote d'Azur from Lily Safra, the widow of Edmond Safra, a Lebanese banker who was killed by an arsonist's fire in Switzerland in 2003. See less