Nellcôte

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Coordinates: 43°42′09″N 7°19′20″E / 43.702617°N 7.322115°E / 43.702617; 7.322115
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Villa Nellcôte
The gates of the Villa Nellcôte in August 2008
Map
Former namesChâteau Amicitia
Alternative namesNellcôte
General information
TypePrivate residence
LocationVillefranche-sur-Mer, France
Address10 Avenue Louise Bordes
06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer
Coordinates43°42′09″N 7°19′20″E / 43.702617°N 7.322115°E / 43.702617; 7.322115
Completed1899

Villa Nellcôte (often referred to as Nellcôte) is a 16-room mansion built during the

Côte d'Azur in Southern France. Among rock music fans, it is known as the recording location of the 1972 album Exile on Main St.
by the English band The Rolling Stones.

History

In the late 1890s, a former banker, Eugene Thomas, built the imposing villa fronted with marble Ionic columns. Originally it bore the name of Château Amicitia. In 1919, the villa, since renamed Villa Nellcôte, was acquired by the Bordes family, famous shipowners specialising in the transport of sodium nitrate between Chile and France.[citation needed]

The Villa Nellcôte was leased from April 1971 to October 1973 by Keith Richards, guitarist of The Rolling Stones. Recording sessions for the band's critically acclaimed 1972 album Exile on Main St. took place in its basement.[1] Richards lived in the house only until late August 1971, after which he left France due to legal problems.[citation needed] In October 1973, a court in Nice imposed a one-year suspended sentence and a 5,000 franc fine on Richards for trafficking cannabis, and banned him from entering France for two years.[2]

Richards claimed that during the

Fascist Italian control. The Nazi occupation began only after that — and they left again in August 1944. With the war turning against them and an invasion expected on the Côte d'Azur, it seems unlikely that the Germans would have spent those 11 months getting local foundries to make custom cast-iron ventilation grates adorned with a swastika motif. Nor is there any record of a Gestapo HQ in Villefranche-sur-Mer.[citation needed
]

It is presently[when?] owned by a Russian national, who purchased it for 100 million euros ($128 million) in 2005.[4]

While the house is not visible from the street, it can be seen from the water.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Greenfield, Robert (8 September 2006). "Making "Exile on Main Street"". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 17 October 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  2. ^ "In 1973 France slams the door on Keith Richards and he's sentenced to 1 year in prison for drug trafficking | Pop Expresso".
  3. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Stones fans not welcome at French 'Exile' mansion" by Peter Howell. The Star.com, 5/21/2010.[1]
  5. ^ "House view from water". Google. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
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