The most amazing Moroccan houses from the pages of House & Garden
Morocco has long been the subject of rhapsodies from the interior designers and other creatives who feature on the pages of House & Garden. Praise tends to centre around the way the country is a meeting point for different cultures, between Europe and the Islamic world, between its own local culture and the interpretations of it made by the expats who flock there. It has a wealth of craft traditions that have influenced interior designers, from the rugs made by the Berber tribes in the Atlas mountains to its distinctive zellige and bejmat tiles. Here we take a look at some of the manifestations of all these cultural meetings – the stylish people's houses that we have been lucky enough to feature.
Francesco Lagnese1/8Veere Grenney's house in Tangier
‘Halfway up Old Mountain in Tangier, my home Gazebo gazes down over a seemingly infinite stretch of brilliant blue, the meeting point of two oceans, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.’ Thus Veere Grenney introduces his Tangier house in his book Seeking Beauty.
’My home here is, for me, the ultimate expression of beauty in the most wonderful location I could ever wish for. Most of all, it is entirely personal. To create this house and garden, I drew on every bit of talent and inspiration I possess.’ A blend of Moroccan craftsmanship and techniques with Veere's inimitably glamorous style, plus art and antiques that each have their story to tell, the house is a masterclass in blending cultures.
Ngoc Minh Ngo2/8The garden at Veere's house is just as beautiful as the interior. When he arrived, it was somewhat neglected, with no one having been brave enough to tame the steep cliffside plot: ‘The cliff was as steep as the Amalfi coast, wild with overgrown mimosa,’ says Veere. ‘The view of the ocean was hardly visible.’
The only solution was to carve a series of dramatic terraces out of the cliff. Initially Veere worked with his friend Umberto Pasti on the layout of the garden, devising an elegant, largely symmetrical scheme with wide steps and generous borders, a central lily pool and, in the wings, a glamorous swimming pool raised above the ground to save the roots of the established palm trees. He also commissioned the architect Cosimo Sesti to design an ornamental gazebo on the upper terrace, as well as a wonderful Rapunzel-like tower that rises up among the palms in the pool garden.
Ngoc Minh Ngo3/8Umberto Pasti's house in Tangier
Writer and garden-maker Umberto Pasti and his partner Stephan Janson, a French-born fashion designer and couturier, fell in love with Morocco more than 30 years ago. ‘We went to a party in Marrakech and there were lots of chichi people there who kept saying, “Darling, we’re going south” – so we went north,’ remembers Umberto. ‘We drove through the mountains towards Tangier and came across fields of irises as dramatic as an El Greco painting. It was raining and there was the most beautiful double rainbow.’
His three homes – an apartment in Milan and his houses in Morocco – are filled with intriguing objects: Neolithic pottery fragments, Islamic tiles, antique textiles, Berber pots, Moroccan furniture and much more besides, making each room a cabinet of e curiosities. ‘I’ve always been a collector,’ says Umberto, whose collections are formed mainly of what he refers to as ‘neglected things’. ‘I want to preserve these unloved fragments for future generations.
Ngoc Minh Ngo4/8Umberto’s real passion is for the garden he has made in the countryside 40 miles south of Tangier. Twenty years ago, he went for a long walk along this stretch of coast, climbing the stony hillside to look back down at the magnificent seascape. ‘I fell asleep under a fig tree and woke up knowing that I had to come and live here,’ he explains. ‘I knew I had to build a garden here.’ So with the help of a Moroccan friend, he set about trying to buy some land near the village of Rohuna, a near-impossible venture due to baffling land divisions and ancient tribal laws, leading to negotiations with at least 20 different parties. Any other lily-livered foreigner would have given up at the first hurdle, but Umberto persevered relentlessly, determined to make the project work – and eventually he won.
Alex James5/8Trudi Ballard's house outside Marrakech
Villa Mauresque belongs to Trudi Ballard, who for many years steered the press and publicity of Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler, famous for its subtle, very English textile designs. Unsurprisingly then, there is more than a touch of the particular Colefax ambience in the house.
Trudi's project began over 10 years ago. 'I've always loved Morocco - the light, the smells and complete contrast to London living. While I was there, I had heard that someone was building a small group of houses between Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountains. I went to look at the site and loved it immediately.'
The house was deliberately furnished over time. 'Even if I'd had all the money in the world, I wouldn't have wanted to finish it all in one fell swoop,' Trudi explains. 'I organised a small shipment of furniture from England and bought the rest in Morocco, which is a very craft-based country.
Matthieu Salvaing6/8Frank de Biasi and Gene Meyer’s Tangier home
‘Tangier is the crossroads of so many civilisations,’ says Frank de Biasi of the evocative Moroccan port city that he and his partner, the multifaceted designer Gene Meyer, have made their home. ‘There’s a central energy here,’ he explains, ‘where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, where Europe meets Africa. It’s a psychic point like no other place.’
Their own home in the Tangier medina brings together inspirations from many other houses in the city, such as the incised plasterwork on Yves Saint Laurent’s bedroom ceiling, the squinches of the distinguished antiquaire Christopher Gibbs’s domed drawing room, the fireplace mantle of the botanist and writer Umberto Pasti, and the contrast-bordered cement tiled floors chez Mickey Raymond, who once worked for Colefax & Fowler.
Dean Hearne7/8Gavin Houghton's ‘La Di Dar’ in Tangier
Gavin Houghton first visited Tangier over 20 years ago. ‘I’d always been intrigued by the fact that it attracted this rather bohemian crowd,’ he recalls. His first trip sparked a life-long love affair and he started visiting annually.
On one such visit, having asked an estate agent friend to show him some properties – ‘for a bit of fun’ – he ended up at the house he now owns, La Di Dar. ‘It couldn’t have been more ugly, but it was incredibly good value and I could see the potential,’ he says. Situated next to the Kasbah, it is reached via an unassuming alleyway and spreads across four levels, including a rooftop terrace that looks out over the Atlantic.
8/8The houses of the late collector and dealer Christopher Gibbs
The great antiques dealer Christopher Gibbs left an indelible mark on Tangier, where his legendary house El Foolk was the setting for much of the city's bohemian social life. His own description of his collecting habits sums up what made the house so special. “Know to be useful, believe to be beautiful, Morris’s credo is mine too, but I’ve always been catholic in my enthusiasms, softened the noble and splendid with the modest and humble, grandeur with simplicity, richness with poverty. Thus in all these rooms will be found things of every age, from far and wide, making fresh conjunctions, new music.”
In a recent book on his style, both this house and his previous house in the Ourika Valley near Marrakech are explored – we took a look with an introduction from designer Benedict Foley.
