Château de la Motte

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

The seigneury of la Motte, created in the 14th century, gave rise to a small fortified house built or rebuilt in the 15th century according to arrangements frequent at the time in the Bourbonnais: a tall rectangular keep topped with steeply-pitched roofs, flanked by a tower - here circular - housing the staircase. It was surrounded by moats, crossed by a drawbridge (later replaced by a stone bridge) and defended by a fortified system comprising two circular towers. At the Revolution, the moats to the East, facing the main façade, were filled in, the defensive towers demolished and the roof space of the staircase tower levelled. Owned by different families over the centuries including the Coiffier d'Aigueperse, the castle was acquired in the 19th century by Auguste Gaubert who undertook in 1852 to enlarge and develop the castle by calling upon the architect Honoré Vianne, from the nearby town of Gannat. The latter proposed a symmetrical composition in neo-gothic style with the addition, on either side of the main body, of a bay covered in terraces or with a gentle slope and a polygonal tower in the continuation of this bay. The project was not entirely carried out since only the northern extension was. A small ornamental structure, a small low garden building in brick with gable walls, was erected nearby. The property is surrounded by an enclosure wall enclosing a partially wooded park which also houses an ensemble of outbuildings arranged around a courtyard.

Description

The castle, situated between Gannat and Mazerier, appears isolated by the wooded setting and the enclosure wall which surround the property and almost entirely conceal the castle from the neighbouring roads. An ensemble of outbuildings (oven, stable, barn, farmer's dwelling) occupies the south-west corner of the park consisting of lawns and plantings. The castle itself comprises a massive rectangular body of building, covered with a four-pitched roof; a lower body of building covered with a sloping roof is adjoined to the north, itself flanked by a polygonal tower. At the centre of the façade of the main body rises a circular staircase tower half projecting. Small elongated openings light the staircase cage, while on the ground floor opens the entrance door in a moulded frame with pilasters with prismatic bases, covered by a pointed arch with solid tympanum (erased coat of arms). To the right of the door, a reinforcement of masonry seems to indicate that originally the façade was arranged differently. On either side of the tower, a bay of large openings with cross-bars and mullions rises over three levels. In the northern continuation of this main body, the 19th-century extension consists of a narrow bay rising over only two levels of neo-gothic openings; it is flanked by an octagonal corner tower of the same height as the main mass, built in dressed stone. The wall surfaces are embellished with a few sculpted decorative details (bands, quatrefoil motifs...). The west façade is almost entirely encircled by the moat. It is lit by large openings on the ground floor (doubtless opened or reopened in the 19th century) and narrow openings on the two other levels, some of which have retained their cross-bar. The south façade is completely blind. The north façade possesses a corner turret and a small body of building in a sloping roof.