The Château de Jean is a French
château built on the site of an older
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
in the ''
commune'' of
Villariès
Villariès (; oc, Vilariès) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.
Population
Sights
The Château de Jean is a château built on the site of an older castle and listed since 1998 as a historic site by the Fr ...
in the
Haute-Garonne ''
département'' of France.
About 1559, the De Jean family acquired the castle which was destroyed in 1570 during the
Wars of Religion. The current château was built with a defensive character on the site of the old castle at the beginning of the 17th century, then largely remodelled in the 18th century to make a comfortable residence. The rebuilding was done by Jean De Jean, Procureur to the
Seneschal
The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...
of
Toulouse in 1604. The major part of the current structure was his work, carried out after 1621, including the fish pond mentioned on several occasions in the texts.
In 1754, the castle was bought by a rich trader, Jean Toulza, who proceeded to make many alterations and extensions: terrace, installing windows in the facades, side wings and cellar, interior decoration (plaster work going back to 1787).
The Château de Jean comprises:
* a central rectangular residence confined by four
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
led towers equipped at the base with defensive
murder-holes
* two symmetrical side wings of common buildings
* the old chapel, at the end of the north wing
The 17th-century building is constructed on vaulted cellars. In front of it to the south is a terrace laid out in the 18th century. The four corner towers are vaulted on the ground floor. It is probable that all window places in the southern facade, as well as in the higher parts of the château, were made by Jean Toulza in the 18th century. The interior decoration also dates from this period, most notably the beautiful plasterwork in the "''Salon des Arts Libéraux et du Négoce''" ("Liberal Arts and Trade Salon") on the first floor. The rear facades were improved. In the extension to the east common a chapel was built by Jean Toulza who is buried there. It comprises a gracious interior pediment in plasterwork representing musician angels.
Privately owned, the Château de Jean has been listed since 1998 as a ''
monument historique
''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
'' by the
French Ministry of Culture.
See also
*
List of castles in France
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jean, Chateau De
Castles in Haute-Garonne
Châteaux in Haute-Garonne
Monuments historiques of Haute-Garonne