The villa was built in the early 1900s by French archaeologist Theodore Reinach, and his wife Fanny Kann, a daughter of Maximilien Kann and Betty Ephrussi, of the Ephrussi family. Madame Fanny Reinach was a cousin of Maurice Ephrussi, who was married to Béatrice de Rothschild. Inspired by the beauty of the Reinach's Villa Kerylos and the area, they built the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild at nearby Cap Ferrat.
Reinach admired the architecture, interior decoration and art of the ancient world and decided to recreate the atmosphere of a luxurious Greek villa in a new building. He purchased land surrounded on three sides by the sea on the tip of the Baie des Fourmis at Beaulieu-sur-Mer, which he felt offered a location similar to that of coastal Greek temples.
Reinach selected as architect Emmanuel Pontremoli, who's drawings on his travels in Asia Minor depicted a faithful reconstruction of the Greek noble houses built on the island of Delos in the 2nd century B.C. and following those drawings he made his design for the villa laying it out around an open peristyle courtyard.
Construction of the building began in 1902 and took six years to complete. The interior integrated influences from Rome, Pompeii and Egypt with the interior decoration overseen by Gustave Louis Jaulmes and Adrien Karbowsky. Stucco bas-reliefs were created by sculptor Paul Jean-Bapiste Gascq.
Reinach commissioned exact copies of ancient Grecian chairs, tabourets and klismos furniture kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples from the cabinetmaker Bettenfeld. Other were to original designs by Pontremoli.
The building incorporated all the latest modern early 20th century features including plumbing and underfloor heating.
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