The Villa Montfeld is an historic residence in the

El Biar El Biar (from Arabic "الأبيار", meaning "The Wells") is a suburb of Algiers, Algeria. It is located in the administrative constituency of Bouzaréah in the Algiers Province. As of the 1998 census, it has a population of 52,582 inhabitant ...

district of

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, which serves as the residence of the Ambassador of the United States to Algeria. The villa was built in the mid-19th century and was reconstructed in a

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...

style by the English architect

Benjamin Bucknall Benjamin Bucknall (1833 – 16 November 1895) was an English architect of the Gothic Revival in South West England and South Wales, and then of neo-Moorish architecture in Algeria. His most noted works include the uncompleted Woodchester Mans ...

between 1878 and 1895. In 1947 the villa was bought by the United States government for use as an ambassadorial residence. In 1981 Villa Montfeld hosted negotiations leading to the

Algiers Accords The Algiers Accords of January 19, 1981 was a set of agreements between the United States and Iran to resolve the Iran hostage crisis, brokered by the Algerian government and signed in Algiers on January 19, 1981. The crisis arose from the takeo ...

, which ended the

Iran hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over t ...

History and description

The original mansion at Montfeld was built by French investors after France's

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

in 1830. From the 1860s, it was owned by a succession of British expatriates including, from 1863, Anna Leigh Smith, daughter of

Benjamin Leigh Smith Benjamin Leigh Smith (12 March 1828 – 4 January 1913) was an English Arctic explorer and yachtsman. He is the grandson of the Radical abolitionist William Smith. Early life He was born in Whatlington, Sussex, the extramarital child ...

, a wealthy

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. Anna, whose sister

Barbara Bodichon Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon (born Barbara Leigh Smith; 8 April 1827 – 11 June 1891) was an English educationalist and artist, and a leading mid-19th-century feminist and women's rights activist. She published her influential ''Brief Summary ...

was a noted artist and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

, was responsible for the rebuilding of the villa, initially in a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. In 1878 she engaged the architect

(1833-1895) to reconstruct the villa to a

design. Bucknall, who had wintered in Algiers in 1876-7 on account of his poor health, relocated permanently to the city in 1878. He died there in 1895, having established a successful architectural practice specialising in the building and reconstruction of villas in the Moorish style. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the villa was occupied by General

Georges Catroux Georges Albert Julien Catroux (29 January 1877 – 21 December 1969) was a French Army general and diplomat who served in both World War I and World War II, and served as Grand Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur from 1954 to 1969. Life Cat ...

, appointed Governor-General of Algeria by

Charles De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

in 1943.

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

, then serving as Minister Resident in the Mediterranean, recorded the Catroux's arrival; "Now a great event has taken place in the social life of Algiers. The famous Mme Catroux has arrived!! Catroux - I need hardly say - has managed to get the best villa in the city for himself." After the war, Villa Montfeld was purchased by the American Government for use as their ambassadorial residence, a function it continues to serve. In 1980-81, the villa was used by

Warren Christopher Warren Minor Christopher (October 27, 1925March 18, 2011) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician. During Bill Clinton's first term as president, he served as the 63rd United States Secretary of State. Born in Scranton, North Dakota, ...

, the US Deputy Secretary of State under

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

, as his headquarters during the negotiation of the

. The accords, facilitated by the Algerian Government and signed on the last evening of Carter's Presidency on 19 January 1981, brought the end of the

. The Villa Montfeld is listed on the

Register of Culturally Significant Property The Secretary of State's Register of Culturally Significant Property (Secretary’s Register) is an honorific listing of diplomatic properties that figure prominently in the international or architectural heritage of the United States. It was fou ...

, an archive complied by the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

as a commemorative Millennium project to record the buildings of historic and architectural importance owned by the State Department worldwide. In a speech in 2017 acknowledging the inclusion, the American ambassador noted the “very important role” played by the villa in US diplomatic history.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Algiers Architecture in Algeria Iran hostage crisis