Whatsoever Things
Destination discovered. That elusive locus of sassitude: Biarritz. We’re lounging outside a café enjoying coffee and the view, our Anglo Catholic work ethic dissipating in the heat. At the table next to us is elegance personified: think Sybil Connolly meets Catherine Denueve. She sends her male companion off and he returns with a box of Dunes Blanches, France’s finest pastries. For us. We’re seeing la vie en plage through sepia tinted glasses. All the vintage glamour of a Lana del Ray music video.
Javier Amézaga and Borja Peñeñori Alfonso write in Big Wave Basque Country (2024), “Coves, bays, cliffs, reefs, beaches, estuaries … in just a few kilometres, the Basque Coast offers a wide spectrum of all kinds of sea beds where you can surf when the biggest swells arrive.” Multiple metres of the white stuff roar and rise towards the golden strand of Biarritz. Nowhere in Britain is 120 kilometres from the coast: nowhere in Biarritz is 120 metres from the coast. Circa.
Putting the ritz into downtown Biarritz, one pub has a sign “Nos Champagnes” outside, listing Bollinger, Bruno Paillard, Dom Pérignon, Henri Giraud, Jacquesson, Krug, Veuve Cliquot. Casual. A two metre tall Hermés sign stands on a rooftop. Everything sounds so much classier in French: check out an estate agents called Une Villa et des Vignes. Not so in English: Banana Moon, Fancy and Oh My Cream don’t convey the same class.
A wine bar goes next level retail nomenclature. L’Art Dit Vin La Cave means Art Says Wine while suggesting it really should be Art is Wine. “Dit” sounds like “de”, the word “of”. The French love puns and this is one such jeu de mots. It’s also a play on the name of the well known chain L’Art de Vin. The roof terrace of Roc Seven Hotel, Veuve Cliquot Sun Club, does what it says on the umbrella awning.
Paris has Montparnasse Tower. Biarritz has Résidence Victoria Surf. The French capital’s tallest and most controversial skyscraper is about to get a £520 million makeover. Former Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s dramatic departing gesture was to secure the funding and commission architectural consortium Nouvelle AOM to get cracking on with cloaking the carapace and propping a greenhouse on top of the 59th floor restaurant.
As far as we know, no such plans are in place for the Brutalist Résidence Victoria Surf, the largest and most prominently positioned apartment block in this town. The 350 apartments may have wonderful views but the view of Louis Arretche’s 1970s pyramidal architectural feat is not universally appreciated. Its Art Deco and half timbered farmhouse style neighbours are softer on the eye of the populace.
A sign outside the red brick Imperial Chapel states: “This chapel was once located in the landscaped park of the Palais de Biarritz, the seaside retreat of the imperial couple. In 1881, during the subdivision of the park, it was fortunately preserved in a verdant setting. Built between 1864 and 1866 according to the wishes of Empress Eugénie, it commemorates French victories in Mexico. Its Romanesque exterior contrasts with a Moorish interior. Dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and designed in the style of Andalusian churches, an architecture Eugénie greatly admired, the Imperial Chapel is a unique and rare monument, emblematic of the era and the Empress’s personal tastes.” Architect Émile Boeswillwald clearly knew his French and Iberian onions.
Uphill stands the stone Russian Orthodox Church of the Protection of the Mother of God and St Alexander of the Neva. A plaque quotes Leviticus 19:18 “Aime ton prochain comme toi meme”. Designed by St Petersburg architect Nikolaï Nikititch Nikonov in collaboration with French architect Oscar Tisnès, the church was consecrated in 1892. Byzantine Revival at its sleekest. The original congregation was holidaying Russian nobility.
The skyline of Biarritz is pierced with pepper pot turrets. Towering over Veuve Cliquot Sun Club, the 1903 Villa Goéland is a jewel in the necklace of mini châteaux strung along the coast. Architect Gaston Ernest at his polychromatic best. Villa Belza is equally prominent and dates from the 1880s onwards. While the original architect was Alphonse Bertrand, its medievalisation was carried out to the design of Dominique Morin. Locution location. Destination covered.
