Château d'Effiat

English translation

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History

The château d'Effiat belonged to Gilbert Antoine Coiffier Ruzé, friend of Richelieu, counsellor to the king in 1625 and whose lands were erected into a marquisate in 1627. He became Marshal of France in 1631. He conceived for Effiat a vast project linking urbanism, architecture, agriculture, communication networks, military and religious oversight. He planned to create at Effiat a new city with geometric layout, calling upon great architects such as Jacques Lemercier, Clément Metezeau and the king's gardener, André Mollet. The works were carried out in two campaigns, from 1626 to 1628, then from 1630 to 1632 for the embellishment of the château, the construction of a church, the college of the Oratory and a hospital. At his death, the works on the château were continued, but the city project was abandoned. The château is constituted by a large rectangular main dwelling, terminated by two projecting pavilions on the principal and rear façades. Two wings placed in the extension of the main dwelling originally flanked the two pavilions, but have been destroyed. The château occupies the middle of a rectangular enclosure limited by a canal forming a moat. The entrance to the courtyard of honour is marked by a monumental stone gateway preceded by a drawbridge. Opposite the entrance, forming the backdrop to the parterre onto which the rear façade opens, there subsists a terrace beneath which is disposed a grotto flanked by staircases; the wall is furnished with niches. The façade of the château presents a classical arrangement comprising a colossal order of Doric pilasters encompassing the ground floor and first floor, an attic decorated with small pilasters surmounting the cornice of the colossal order. The windows were originally furnished with stone mullions of which traces subsist. The pavilions and the rear façade of the same arrangement as the principal façade remain unfinished, except for the rear façade of the left pavilion. The outbuildings and farm date from the second quarter of the 17th century.