Luxury Indian Ocean No2 Édition 2015 | Page 110

Art de vivre | Lifestyle Le domaine des Aubineaux. 1872 Construite en ébène et en colophane, la maison de la famille Guimbeau, qui l’a habitée jusqu’en 1999, comprend 28 pièces et 117 fenêtres donnant sur un jardin de 17 hectares. Fait rare pour une maison coloniale, elle dispose d’un couloir et de toilettes à l’intérieur et fut la première à avoir l’électricité ! On peut y admirer des meubles d’époque, des objets anciens et les portraits des aïeux. Built in ebony and rosin, home to the Guimbeau family who lived there until 1999, the house has 28 rooms and 117 windows overlooking a garden of 17 hectares. Quite unusual for a colonial mansion, it has a corridor and internal bathrooms, and it was the first to have electrical power! You can admire the period furniture, the antiques and portraits of the Guimbeau family through the years. planters are set out for conversation, for drinking tea and relaxing after a day’s work. Often circular, these galleries are dressed with columns and wrought-iron railings in the style of the colonial dwellings of South Carolina. Some owners added a canopy that conferred even more prestige to the house, and allowed them to welcome their guests from the top of a flight of steps. The floor, a mosaic of two-tone tiles, brings a touch of colour to the building, and glistens in the play of shadows and shimmering lights, from dawn till dusk. The houses are large and spacious, and usually have two floors. The reception rooms with their sumptuous floors are designed to accommodate numerous guests, and they look out over the gardens, either formally designed à la française, or lushly stocked with indigenous plants and ancient trees. Kitchens and water closets are usually built away from the main body of the house. Each of these grandes dames has a touch of coquetry about her, for each one has very much her own identity, with her individual mix of decorative and multicultural styles of her time. Gables and turrets may nestle on the roof; the friezes along the terraces and on the canopies are picked out with lacy arabesque patterns; the cornices are adorned with valances; and the wrought iron balustrades were obviously a total delight for the artisans... While bow windows and winter verandas, inspired by the English fashion, bring a touch of folly to the more sober French style. All the artisanal craftsmen - carpenter, stonemason, bricklayer, founder, blacksmith, cabinetmaker, ironworker, tinsmith – put the best of their skills at the service of these great – and stylish