Unique characterful architect-designed villa with spacious terraces and spectacular panoramic views in Roses

The Costa Brava real estate market offers countless opportunities and an endless variety of properties to satisfy the tastes and priorities of the most diverse and demanding buyers. However, in an increasingly globalised world, “uniformity” and “standardisation” seem to be increasingly valued, making it ever more difficult to find “personality” and “character”.

Despite this, every so often, properties emerge that are utterly incomparable with all others: unique, with an architectural concept that is far from ordinary. This is the case with this villa, built and inhabited by the same family since the mid-1980s in the El Mas Fumats neighbourhood of Roses. As soon as one opens the imposing front door, weighing more than a tonne and crafted from solid oak in the former workshop of the village carpenter in Pontòs, one enters a home that radiates “identity”, “solidity” and “individuality” from every angle. Far from forming straight 90º angles, its lines even create curves.

The large living room, arranged around a baby grand piano played by major stars such as Julio Iglesias, Paul Anka and Charles Aznavour, offers spectacular views over the Bay of Roses, the wetlands and the Empordà plain. At its western end, it is vertically divided into two more sheltered and cosy spaces: a library for reading above, and an even more intimate corner for watching the widescreen television below, featuring an original open fireplace inspired by Dalí. Both corners are tiled with “Cadaqués slate”, from the remote and picturesque neighbouring village where the painter’s former home is located, now converted into a museum.

On the opposite side, there is access to the large terrace, facing entirely south, which accommodates a spacious outdoor dining area with a grill and another sitting area. Both spaces are protected by the house’s own roof, as the designers understood that in the land of sunshine, generous outdoor communal areas are essential—but always in the shade.

At this end of the living room is also the staircase, leading on one side to the main bedroom on the first floor and on the other to the semi-basement. In addition to the three-car garage, this level contains the laundry room, with its own terrace for drying clothes, and one of the study bedrooms, with an en-suite shower and toilet.

Also at this end are the cloakroom and guest bathroom, as well as access to the indoor dining room and from there to the kitchen, which was already equipped in those days with a central island, now fitted with an induction hob. Another terrace also provides direct access to the outdoor dining area.

The generously proportioned main bedroom has an open-plan bathroom with a shower and a whirlpool bathtub, as well as a separate room for the toilet and bidet and its own walk-in wardrobe. The terrace is surrounded by extensive woodland forming part of the property, behind which the neighbouring houses remain concealed. It also protects the property from prying eyes.

From this terrace, crossing a bridge over the hexagonal swimming pool, one reaches the two studios—on the ground and first floors—for family members and/or guests, each of which also has its own exterior access from outside the estate. Both are divided into two areas—a sitting room and bedroom—and are equipped with their own bathroom with a shower. The pool also provides access to the outdoor shower and a second guest toilet.

Our extraordinary photographs prove that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, although it is very difficult to do justice to the impressive personality of this property, where one searches in vain for a corridor or space without a specific practical purpose, or for any partition or dividing wall made of plasterboard.