Ella Fitzgerald's Cote d'Azur suite is now a magnificent apartment in the Art Deco hotel where Churchill, Coco Chanel and Hemingway once lived the high life

One hazy evening in July 1963, music lovers who had attended the Juan-Les-Pins jazz festival were surprised and delighted at an impromptu performance by Ella Fitzgerald from a balcony of the Hotel Le Provençal.

Now, 62 summers later, fans of the Queen of Jazz can live in a thee-bedroom apartment where she stayed — so long as they have the £6.75 million required to buy it.

Fitzgerald herself, it has to be said, would probably not recognise the place if she woke up here one morning. The hotel was once a mainstay of the Cote d'Azur at its glorious height, frequented by Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Coco Chanel and Winston Churchill — and it inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald to writeTender is the Night — but the place fell on hard times in the 1970s and was shut down for decades (of which more later).

Attempts to restore Le Provençal to its former glory place have been rumbling along since at least 2008, but it's now complete after a 10-year effort by the British entrepreneur John Caudwell, the billionaire who made his fortune launching Phones4U. The hotel is now a £300 million 'super prime residential complex'.

Ella Fitzgerald's suite has — according to Caudwell — been inspired by the singer, the glamour of the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age, and the Cote d'Azur's post-war zenith. But as the pictures on this page show, it's a very 21st century take on that idea; as the developer puts it, 'this architectural gem seamlessly blends the opulence of its past with the elegance of modern living,' and, 'offers a unique opportunity to experience the epitome of sophistication and prestige'.

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In other words, this is a world of privilege where apartments have high-end fittings, private terraces and even — in this case — a covered loggia. In the reception room is a dark gold feature wall against a palette of rich purples, soft chocolate browns and natural wood.

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The open plan kitchen has bronze finished timber cabinetry with stone countertops and a central island and breakfast bar clad in marble.

This 2,172 sq ft apartment is the latest unit to be launched of 41 penthouses, apartments, and villas at Le Provençal. The first hit the market in the spring and around 40% have been sold so far. Le Provençal will once again be a playground for millionaires, with a string of services offered to residents, and the best of the French Riviera on the doorstep.

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It seems apt that it should be resurrected by a billionaire with a high public profile, since that's how it began. The original Hotel Le Provençal was built in 1926-1927 for Frank Jay Gould, the American railroad tycoon — he already sounds like a character from an Agatha Christie novel — who built and owned hotels and casinos, and was one of the richest men in the world at the time.

With views of spectacular sunsets across the Bay of Golfe-Juan, at the gateway of the Cap d'Antibes, this hotel was a favourite haunt of the beau monde in the 1960s and 1970s, also dubbed 'the jazz years' and the 'golden years of the Riveria'.

What a place it must have been at the time. As well as Monroe, Chanel and Ella Fitzgerald, the hotel also hosted Ernest Hemingway, Jackie Kennedy and Louis Armstrong, while Scott Fitzgerald lived in the nearby mansion Belles Rives and would prop up the hotel bar in the late '20s. The story goes that Picasso used an annexe there as a studio and painted the walls. In 1977 the music stopped, and the 10-storey hotel closed for a refurbishment that never materialised.

It was abandoned for almost 50 years. Several property magnates tried to revive it. Cyril Dennis (of Docklands fame) had plans, but they were thwarted by the Global Financial Crisis. Eventually, the derelict building was bought in 2014 by Caudwell. An octagonal lobby has been modelled on the original salon with an inlaid bronze monogram, while bas-relief sculptural designs run throughout lobby, pool area and the new port cochere.

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Caudwell has developed several high-profile property holdings in recent years — he has a £2 billion project in London called Mayfair One — but in France he found his biggest challenge was dealing with the local planning officials who were 'very difficult'. Among other points of conflict was the dictate that he should paint the building in ochre, rather than the original off-white. Caudwell's response to them can be paraphrased as 'Cry me a river' — he's stayed true to the original look of this Art Deco landmark.

The new Ella Fitzgerald show apartment at Le Provençal is priced at €7.75 million (around £6.75 million) and is sold fully furnished — see more details.