Inside Hôtel du Couvent, brought back to life by Valéry Grégo after four decades of silence

Tucked into the labyrinth of streets in Nice's Old Town, Hôtel du Couvent gives little away from the outside. Step in from the bustle of Rue Centrale however, and the ancient wooden doors open onto 2.5 acres of gardens planted with roses, olive, lemon and orange trees – a haven of unexpected calm inside what was, for nearly four centuries, a working convent. On a stretch of coastline better known for superyachts and grand palace hotels, this extraordinary property is something genuinely different. The structure itself dates to 1604, when the sisters of the Order of Saint Claire built the convent using stone, tiles and timber repurposed from a neighbouring château. Later occupied by the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary who arrived in 1803 and remained until the early 1980s, the complex fell silent after they departed. Forty years later, in a project that took a decade, the buildings have been meticulously restored with the utmost respect for the spirit and integrity of the original.

The driving force behind that restoration was Valéry Grégo, the founder of the London-based Perseus Group, who was approached by the mayor of Nice, in search of someone to transform the convent into a destination hotel that would draw visitors to the city, rather than treating it as a jumping off point for the rest of the Côte d'Azur. To bring it back to life, Grégo assembled an exceptional team, including the Bombay-based practice Studio Mumbai and Nice's own Studio Méditerranée to tackle the architecture, and to add a contemporary wing that would sit seamlessly beside the historic building. For the interiors, Grégo turned to Festen Architecture, a Paris-based studio founded in 2011 by Charlotte de Tonnac and Hugo Sauzay, who had also worked with Grégo on Paris's Le Pigalle - their first hotel project - and on Les Roches Rouges on the Var coast, as well as several private commissions. “When we did Le Pigalle, we were small and not very well known,” de Tonnac recalls. “Hugo and I had been working together for about four years, mainly on private projects, and Valéry took a chance on us - I think he had a feeling, which is really what it's all about. I also think he was happy to work with people who hadn't designed hotels before and therefore had a fresh view.”

Among the most intriguing spaces is the Apothecary - a reinvention of the herbalist's shop that existed during the convent's working life, that, like the bakery and the laundry, remains in its original location. No archival images survived, so Festen researched similar spaces before commissioning a local craftsman to build the complex joinery. Now, resident herbalist Gregory Unrein occupies the nook, offering teas, tinctures and custom remedies made with plants from the hotel's own garden and its nearby farm at Touet-sur-Var.Accommodation-wise, the 88 rooms range in size, from the smaller nun's cells to suites fashioned from spaces such as the Séchoir, a long room where laundry was once hung to dry. A guiding principle throughout was a commitment to reversibility, with electrical cables concealed in bespoke wooden box frames fitted around the doors rather than routed into the walls. “We tried not to make holes, so that if ever the building isn't a hotel anymore, you could remove everything and you wouldn't know it had been there,” explains de Tonnac.

Larger suites ideal for stays with family and groups boast kitchens equipped with Lacanche cookers as well as dining and living areas. “They were designed more like apartments, to be like a home away from home, for people who want to work, or to cook their own food, or have it cooked for them,” she continues. Each room, whatever its size, is layered with bespoke oak furniture, custom sofas and plaster light fittings designed by Festen, as well as antiques, sculptures and textiles sourced in Italy and France. “We took a truck, visiting outdoor trade fairs - known as déballages - where dealers arrive from across Europe and open the backs of their vans. It was like treasure hunting,” she enthuses. The grey marble in the bathrooms evokes a monastic, understated elegance and was chosen to echo the modest stone the nuns would have used themselves, while the doors, window frames and shutters are painted in the same deep green found on woodwork on traditional buildings throughout Nice. An extensive collection of antique and contemporary artwork was amassed by curator Virginie Boulenger of Parisian design agency, Saint-Lazare.