Villa Demoiselle

The Villa Demoiselle sits on Boulevard Henry Vasnier at the edge of the champagne-house district, a full Art Nouveau and Art Deco house built at the turn of the twentieth century and restored from near-ruin. The exterior alone is a session: curved wrought-iron balconies, stone carved into plant forms around every opening, a conservatory of coloured glass on the garden side, and a wide gravel forecourt that gives room to stand back.

It photographs best in soft light. Full midday sun bleaches the pale stone and kills the detail in the ironwork; an overcast morning or the hour before sunset lets the carving read. The garden front, seen from the lawn, is the better of the two elevations, and the low angle from the gravel gives the house its full height.

Inside is restored furniture, glass and marquetry, and it is visited on a guided tour that has to be booked — the villa belongs to a champagne house and is not a municipal museum, so opening hours are limited and can change. Interior photography rules are theirs to set: ask when you book rather than on the doorstep.

The boulevard around it is quiet, tree-lined and full of nineteenth-century champagne-house architecture — the walk from here to the basilica of Saint-Remi covers most of what the city has outside the cathedral, and has no crowds at all.