On the 19th of September 2017 the Villa Ambron, in Alexandria Egypt, was torn down after years of attempts to do so by the developer who owns the plot.
“Villa Ambron was one of the fulcrums of Alexandria’s cultural life. Built and owned by architect Aldo Ambron – one of a then 70,000-strong Jewish community that has all but vanished – the house has been home to dignitaries including Italy’s exiled king Vittorio Emanuele III, and leading Egyptian painters Saad el-Khadim and Effat Nagui. “It was the place to be seen if you were an artist,””
In an interesting post about the house by Michael Haag we learn that:
“Durrell and his Alexandrian girlfriend Eve Cohen - who would later become his wife and who also inspired the character of Justine - moved into the upper floor of the house - the Villa Ambron - with a number of friends in October 1943. Down below lived the owners, Aldo Ambron and his wife Amelia, and their daughter Gilda. ”
Alexandria 1944
Photo: Edwin Newman Collection San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
The Novel Lawrence Durrell Wrote in Villa Ambron
The novels set in Alexandria.
Haag's fascinating retelling of Alexandria's period of modern cosmopolitanism. Writers, culture and politics.
