Imagine that! Lennon’s son to sell £22m home by Med
DESCRIBED perhaps inevitably, but correctly, as ‘a classic’, it’s pretty close to perfection. that’s not so much because of the discreet studio, where a white grand piano takes pride of place, but because of the captivating, white- shuttered 18th-century house which looks out, across a terrace arrayed with statues, to the Mediterranean — and which is even blessed with its own chapel, carved into the hillside above.
But though it may be a dream South of France property, I can reveal that Julian Lennon has decided to walk away from it — albeit for £22 million.
that’s the price tag which musician, photographer and philanthropist Julian — only child of John Lennon’s marriage to his first wife, cynthia — has put on the house which he’s owned for the past 25 years or so.
Described as a ‘passion project’, the four-storey home, which has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and numerous balconies, is the sort of architectural gem which could have appeared in a play by noel coward or a novel by Somerset Maugham.
Lennon, 61, ensured that original frescos and a Venetian mosaic floor were preserved, while creating what’s described as a ‘double suite’ for himself on the top floor.
But perhaps the grounds, with swimming pool and pool house, are an even greater glory, with a succession of terraces leading down to the sea, just a two or three-minute walk away.
Lennon tucked a cinema room into the studio, which has recently been renovated, and built two new garages, while taking care to ensure that they weren’t blots on the landscape.
Quite why he’s chosen to motor away from this idyllic place is not known. But after releasing his latest album, Jude, in 2022, he said it was ‘the end of a chapter’.
he now devotes much of his time to his White Feather Foundation, whose goals include bringing clean water to those who lack it — 3.5 million of whom die each year in consequence.