Villa Bled Roknine

In the middle of an Eden of olive trees, carob trees and jacarandas, on the red earth of the Palmeraie stands a graceful white building, an unexpected relief in the surrounding desert. The story goes back to 1928, when one of the Audibert heirs, who had acquired land in the countryside near Marrakech, entrusted the architect Paul Sinoir with the construction of a unique residence, whose silhouette and volumes were inspired by European modernism. In this environment, with its style and proportions, the Bled Roknine villa stands out. Two years later, Paul Sinoir would develop a very personal version of the Moorish vogue, by freehand drawing the villa of the French painter Jacques Majorelle, which today houses the Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts. The villa Bled Roknine, almost a century old and abandoned for a decade, changed hands in 1989. The hearts of Aziz and Christine Alaoui, owners of the place for thirty-five years, capsized for this relic of the past that awakens every morning to the scent of acacias. "We were captivated by the monumental and mysterious character of Bled Roknine. It has no equivalent in the city. It was impossible not to succumb to its charm," says Christine Alaoui. When the couple visited the property, they had no idea what awaited them behind the door. "We had been given a set of keys from the 1930s, completely unusable. We had to go through a basement window, and find our way in the dark. When we arrived on the ground floor, the sinuous lines of the staircase dazzled us. » Inside, the colorful tiles, with their patchwork patterns by Anni Albers, punctuate a singular chromatic harmony. Each room has its own composition, with the exception of the atrium and the large bathroom on the first floor, paved with Italian marble. In the living room, two ceramic tigers by MichelVu watch over an impressive collection of family photos, souvenirs of barbecues in the Palmeraie or lunches with Yves Saint Laurent and the American decorator Bill Willis. Over the years, the Alaouis have brought together works of art and design pieces from the 1930s, an eclectic corpus that weaves the choral novel of a bygone era. Thus the dining room table: "We bought it in Boul, the Countess of Breteuil, owner of the Taylor villa; considered the most beautiful private residence in North Africa," continues Christine Alaoui. This table has many famous guests, including Rita Hayworth, McIk Jagger; Churchill and Roosevelt. Some even say that it was on this table that Charlie Chaplin staged the famous dance of the buns from The Gold Rush. Following the curves of the staircase, we enter a room in which an Art Nouveau desk and cabinet by Louis Majorelle interact with drawings of plants and sketches by Bill Willis. On the second floor, a diffuse light filtered by the arrow slits and the vast bay window of the solarium reigns. Here, copies of Tamara by Lempicka and accessories from the play Tamara by John Krizane stand out against the Atlas Mountains that cut them out in the distance. This secret house, all angles and turns, almost makes us forget that we are in Morocco. Yet, just one look outside is enough to fall under the spell of the bright colours of the Maghreb.