Château Croix des Gardes

Milestones

1. 1916

   Paul Girod, the Swiss industrialist who founded the Ugine steelworks, begins planning the villa on the Croix des Gardes hill.

2. 1919

   Geneva architect Edmond Fatio takes over the design, with Mentor J. Aznavour as executing architect. The grounds become Italianate gardens laid out by Octave Godard.

3. 1920–1921

   The villa is built, Medici in character, in stone and rendered masonry.

4. 1927

   Decorator André Carlhian redoes the interiors.

5. 1954

   Alfred Hitchcock films scenes of “To Catch a Thief” there with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant.

6. 1970

   For Gustave Leven, Alan Gore remodels the villa in a neo-Palladian style: a four-column Ionic portico and a horseshoe staircase on the south front.

7. 2019–2022

   The villa is restored.