Fight to save James Baldwin's Southern France home

Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France

FROM 1970 until his death in 1987, James Baldwin lived and wrote in a house with an idyllic garden in this medieval village on the Côte d'Azur, with the Alps at its back and the Mediterranean visible far below.

But those who arrive today to pay homage to Baldwin will not find anything commemorating that American novelist, playwright and essayist. No house museum greets them, or even a plaque with his name. The wing where Baldwin lived was torn down a few years ago. The remaining two houses on the property are in disrepair, the once-verdant garden unkempt. And the local real estate developer who now owns the property, after the Baldwin family lost control of it more than a decade ago, plans to build three apartment buildings and a swimming pool.