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A palace fit for nonroyalty
MARRAKESH, Morocco: 'Everything has been done to make an art de vivre.'
The renaissance of the Palais Layadi - from ruin to regal palace in 18 months - is a 21st-century tale of "A Thousand and One Nights."
The palatial compound, which measures 4,000 square meters, or 43,055 square feet, was built between the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Caïd Layadi, a Berber tribal lord.
Now, a French decorator, Jean-Louis Raynaud, and his American design partner, Kenyon Kramer, veterans of their own Marrakesh renovation, are behind the continuing transformation, said to be the largest private restoration inside the walled medina.
The complex includes eight structures, some of which reflect the property's colorful history. There are two riyads, the Moroccan term for townhouses constructed around a courtyard garden. The first, the Palais Layadi, was built for the caïd's family and now is the main reception area. The second, Dar Kabira, was built for the caïd's concubines and now houses the guest wing.
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A stynia, which means "pearl" in Arabic, was the pavilion of the caïd's official wife. It now contains one of the compound's two master suites.
There also is Dar Turquia, a two-floor courthouse - Layadi had his own tribunal and prison - that a later owner turned into a Turkish folly and now is the second master suite.
Other small houses and several outbuildings contain a large kitchen, laundry, wine cellar, hammam and staff quarters. A gym, spa and movie theater are still to come.
From the imposing carved cedar entry door through rooms of mystery and magic, where walls gleam with a kaleidoscope of colorful zillijes, or handmade Moroccan tiles, the unusual architecture has been preserved and interiors have been reinvented in a mix of tradition and Western savoir-vivre.
Now there is a new family in residence.
The designers, who are based in Aix-en-Provence, France, count clients like Janet de Botton, the London art collector; Anne Cox Chambers, the former U.S. ambassador to Belgium; and the film director Ridley Scott. In 2001 they arranged a Moroccan tour for another client, the Swiss banker Urs Schwarzenbach and his Australian wife, Francesca, for whom they had done a house in Provence.
The tour was cut short by the attacks of Sept. 11 but they returned the next year and Schwarzenbach was intrigued by the designers' own restored riyad.
"Two or three hours from London or Zurich, you live in a different world. Marrakesh has a history, a culture, real people living there. It's not artificial," is how Schwarzenbach described the city's attraction in a telephone interview. "I fell in love with their place. I told them, If you ever find another like that - it might also be a little bit bigger - let me know."
It took two years for the designers to find the palace, which was put up for sale in five lots. When they presented it to him, the Zurich financier said he immediately saw its "serious potential."
"I have a passion for building," he admitted. "For the last 30 years, I have been doing up houses from Australia to Scotland." (Among them are the recent €310 million, or $400 million, renovation of the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, with new wings by Norman Foster; several farms in Australia; an estate in Scotland; a manor in Oxfordshire; and an entire village, called Hambleden, also in England.)
Schwarzenbach asked the French-speaking designers to negotiate the purchase, which turned out to be long, laborious and frustrating. "It's like a labyrinth: turn right, turn left, stop and make a detour" is how Kramer put it.
"One palace had 74 heirs and each one had to decide to sign the sale contract," Raynaud explained. "Several had moved to France and Germany so lawyers had to find them, bring them back to sign the papers."
Another surprise was finding out that the caïd's last concubine, now 90, had been granted lifetime occupancy in his will. "We were sensitive to letting her stay, but then thought of offering her the choice of another house in the medina or an apartment, things she could leave her own heirs," Kramer said. "She loved the idea and opted for a modern apartment with contemporary kitchen, washing machine and dryer. We were delighted to live in the 19th century, but she bolted right into the 21st century."
The designers initially were occupied with basics, including the installation of a sewer system and a back-up electrical generator. They also turned a former kitchen into a mosque for the workers' daily prayers; eventually it will be used by the staff.
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