Manoir du Grand-Courtoiseau

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 present manor, with harmonious proportions, was erected in the 17th or 18th century in place of a rectangular fortress established around 1480 by the d'Avy family. It is typical of the evolution of country dwellings frequent in the Val de Loire since the end of the Middle Ages. The absence of agricultural buildings and a low courtyard indicates that the manor lost its economic function in favour of a residential one. One also notes the absence of defensive function. Probably surrounded by moats originally, the manor was constituted around a central rectangular court adorned with a large basin and according to a U-shaped plan quite typical of Sologne architecture. Access is gained by a portal pierced to the north between two symmetrical wings constituting the outbuildings (stable and saddlery to the east, coach house to the west). They are dated by the proprietor to the 17th century. The east and west sides are closed by render walls with brick jambs. Various openings framed with bricks pierce them and give access to small buildings arranged in the exterior space. The most important, to the east, gives access to the chapel pavilion. A dwelling block closes the south side of the quadrilateral. Its alteration, or even reconstruction, is attributed to the Dupré de Saint-Maur family, proprietor in the course of the 18th century. The central body, of five bays on three storeys, is flanked by two low pavilions, on two storeys. The whole is unified by a double course of brick which continues in the lower part the stone drip moulding of the central pediment. With the exception of this pediment, present on both façades, the dwelling block is entirely rendered and presents door and window framings of brick (as well as the jambs of straight dormers with pediments). The miniaturist Jean-Baptiste Augustin lived there from 1819 until the end of his life. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was added a small greenhouse with metal structure at the south-east corner of the dwelling block, perhaps by the naturalist Auguste Cornu de la Fontaine de Coincy. Alfred-Léon Gérault-Richard, deputy for Guadeloupe and proprietor from 1906, altered the internal arrangement of the dwelling and entertained much at the Grand Courtoiseau. From 1946, the property has had many proprietors (including the writer Hervé Bazin who lived on the estate in quasi-self-sufficiency and wrote his last works there, the singer Mouloudji, etc.) before being repurchased in 1989 by its present proprietors who are restoring the buildings with care and have been creating since 1991 a refined garden. This was designed by Alain Richer and has just been opened to visitors.