Barry Dierks, the Riviera’s Villa Architect
Barry Dierks, the Riviera’s Villa Architect
The man who shaped the Mediterranean dream of the Roaring Twenties
The 1920s — that heady decade known as the Roaring Twenties —brought Europe a long-awaited sigh of relief. After more than four years of war and the deadly Spanish flu, those who still had fortunes to spend were eager to celebrate life again. And where better to indulge than on the French Riviera —where the sea sparkled, champagne flowed, and new architectural dreams took shape?
It was here that American architect Barry Dierks found his calling. Alongside his partner, Eric Sawyer, he created a new style of luxury living by the sea — designing and remodeling more than a hundred elegant villas, many of which still stand today.
The Riviera Reborn
The post-war Riviera was a changed world. The Russian princes who once filled the casinos were now taxi drivers, and in their place came a flood of wealthy Americans, drawn by favorable exchange rates and endless sunshine. Until then, the Riviera had been a winter retreat. But that too was about to change. In 1923, the adventurous American couple Gerald and Sara Murphy convinced the owner of the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc to keep it open through the summer — a daring idea that sparked a new trend. Ironically, today the hotel closes for the winter instead. Nearby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald captured the magic of that golden age in Tender Is the Night, written from his home in what’s now the Hôtel Belles-Rives.
Barry and Eric – A Perfect Pairing
Born in 1899 in Montana, Barry Dierks studied architecture in Pittsburgh before continuing at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. To support himself, he took a job as a cashier at Banque Chollet, where fate introduced him to Eric Sawyer, the bank’s British-born director — ten years his senior and from a very different world.
Where Barry brought artistry and design, Eric brought engineering skill, charm, and powerful connections among Britain’s and America’s upper classes.Together they became not only life partners but also an unbeatable professional team.
Villa Le Trident – Their Signature Home
By 1925, the duo decided to settle on the Riviera. Thanks to a lucky financial tip overheard at the Ritz bar in Paris, they secured the funds to buy a 6,000-square-meter plot in Théoule-sur-Mer, perched above the Mediterranean.
There they built their own home: Villa Le Trident — named for the trident shape of the land when viewed from above. White, clean-lined, and cascading down the slope toward the sea, it became the blueprint for Dierks’ later creations. The entrance was at the top, the rooms descended toward the water, and at the lowest level lay a shimmering swimming pool — a composition of geometry, light, and landscape.
Designing for the Elite
Their first major client was none other than British author W.Somerset Maugham, who commissioned them to renovate his property LaMauresque on Cap-Ferrat. The success of that project established their reputation, and soon orders came pouring in.
Among their many commissions, the most legendary was perhaps Château de l’Horizon, designed in 1931 for American actress Maxine Elliott. Built between Cannes and Golfe-Juan, it was the epitome of glamorous modern living: vast terraces, a saltwater pool, and a daringeight-meter slide that plunged straight into the sea — reportedly built to suitMaxine’s ample figure, and, conveniently, Winston Churchill’s as well.
Guests at the château were expected to live by Maxine’s rules: no treating the house like a hotel, and no solitary excursions. Everything was to be shared— meals, laughter, and Riviera sunshine.
After Maxine’s death in 1940, the villa was sold to Aly Khan, son of the Aga Khan, who later married Rita Hayworth there in1949. Decades later, the property was purchased by the King of Saudi Arabia, and it remains in the Saudi royal family to this day. WhenSwedish Prime Minister Olof Palme visited in 1984 to discuss oil storage projects, legend has it he arrived without a clean shirt —prompting the Swedish ambassador, Carl Lidbom, to dash into town to buy one.
War and What Came After
World War II brought everything to a halt. Eric Sawyer escaped over thePyrenees and spent the war in London. Barry, being American, managed to reach the U.S. aboard the diplomatic ship Gripsholm, which safely crossed the Atlantic throughout the war years.
After the conflict, they both returned to Le Trident and tried to restart their firm. But times had changed; the Riviera was no longer the carefree paradise it once was. Barry died in 1960, likely from smoking-relatedillness. Eric, ever resilient, lived on for another twenty-five years.
Today, Villa Le Trident still belongs to Eric Sawyer’s family. You can glimpse it from the Corniche d’Or road — white and serene above the sea, its small rooftop bell a quiet reminder of the man who gave theRiviera its modern soul.
A discreet monument to a dazzling career — and to an era when elegance and sunshine met in perfect harmony.
Nils Lindholm
