Eileen Gray - E.1027 (1926-1929)

The compact white elongated vacation residence cryptically called E.1027 is perched on the rocky coast of the Côte d’Azur. To this day, it draws the views of passers-by along the Moyenne Corniche, the narrow and winding coastal road along the Mediterranean Sea. The Anglo-Irish designer Eileen Gray (1878-1976) bought the site, paid for the construction and, as her fi rst foray into architecture, designed it with assistance of her close friend at the time, Jean Badovici, to whom Gray gave the site, building and contents. E.1027 was a manifesto, the kernel of Gray’s subsequent social and architectural projects for vacation and cultural centers.