Château

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

According to E. Joyeux, the seigneury of Saint-Rémy belonged in the mid-12th century to Philippe d'Achey. Later to the Faucogney, it was held in the 15th century by the family of Ville. André de Ville obtained in 1533 the erection of the land into a barony. Passed in 1579 to the family of Luz, it entered some years later into the patrimony of the Salives-Villersvaudey, by the marriage of Antoine de Salives with Marguerite de Luz. Around 1637, the daughter of the latter married Claude-Antoine de Vaudrey. On 24 July 1731, Jeanne-Octavie de Vaudrey, second daughter and heir of Nicolas-Joseph (died in 1733), who married Anne-Armand de Rosen (died on 28 November 1749 in Paris). They had a son, Eugène-Octave, died in 1775. The medieval château was burned in 1437, rebuilt then devastated by the troops of Louis XI, besieged by the French during the War of Ten Years. Lacking documentation its architecture is unknown, except for the vague mention of the tower and the chapel (moved in 1707). It housed in 1733, at the death of Nicolas-Joseph de Vaudrey, a very rich library, abundantly provided with works, some of which manuscripts, of history and sciences, but also of architecture and fortification. The old château was situated about a hundred metres to the north-east of the present château, dominating the village and the Superbe. The plan of 1770 indicates its location (Letter O) and notes that it is undergoing demolition. This document also represents the old stables, further to the east, on the other side of the access path, which will be transformed into an orangery. In the 19th century, at the location of the old building, there had been arranged a sort of belvedere called 'the viewpoint'.

Description

The new château, to the south of the location of the old one, stands in the midst of a vast quadrangular enclosure closed by railings. The main dwelling of U-shaped plan is surrounded by three courtyards to the south, while to the north a ground platform as a parterre 'La Planimétrie', maintained by a retaining wall extends almost at the level of the first storey, accommodating two basins fed by the rainwater collected on the château. The central axis of the dwelling towards the south is reinforced by a large rectilinear avenue closed by a portal between two pavilions, continued beyond a ditch (the canal). Today, the organisation of the building is established according to that of the psychiatric hospital since 1937. This function has resulted in significant transformations, interior and exterior. On the ground floor as on the storey above runs a continuous gallery on the courtyard side. The principle of circulation is found on the roof-space storey where the partition walls are pierced in succession.