The Château du Jonchet is a

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define th ...

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...

located on the banks of the Aigre River in the former

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Romilly-sur-Aigre Romilly-sur-Aigre () is a former commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Cloyes-les-Trois-Rivières.Cloyes-les-Trois-Rivières Cloyes-les-Trois-Rivières (, literally 'Cloyes the Three Rivers') is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Eure-et-Loir, north-central France. The municipality was established on 1 January 2017 by merging the fo ...

in 2017) in the

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Centre-Val de Loire Centre-Val de Loire (, , ,In isolation, ''Centre'' is pronounced . ) or Centre Region (french: région Centre, link=no, ), as it was known until 2015, is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley ...

, in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The château was built in the sixteenth century, before being completely transformed by the King's architect Gabriel de Lestrade in the eighteenth century. The château was restored by

Fernand Pouillon Fernand Pouillon (14 May 1912 – 24 July 1986) was a French architect, urban planner, building contractor and writer. Pouillon was one of the most active and influential post-World War II architects and builders in France. He is remembered fo ...

before it was owned by

Roger Bellon Roger Bellon is a French film, television, theatre and opera composer, conductor, orchestrator and producer. Early life He was eight when he had his first piano and composition lessons. Roger Bellon earned his Bachelor Of Music Composition degree ...

and

Hubert de Givenchy Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy (; 21 February 1927 – 10 March 2018) was a French aristocrat and fashion designer who founded the luxury fashion and perfume house of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the p ...

, who owned the château until his death in 2018. The château has been designated as a partially protected

historical monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

since 18 October 1984.

History

The

-style château dates from the sixteenth century. In the 18th century, it was transformed by the King's architect Gabriel de Lestrade, who notably built the staircase of Louis-Hilaire du Bouchet, Comte de Sourches. Lestrade, a collaborator of the King's architect, Ange-Jacques Gabriel, later built the

Château de Sourches The Château de Sourches is Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical château located in the Communes of France, commune of Saint-Symphorien, Sarthe, Saint-Symphorien, near Le Mans, in the Sarthe Departments of France, department in the Regions of ...

for Louis II du Bouchet de Sourches, Marquis de Sourches, Comte de

Montsoreau Montsoreau () is a commune of the Loire Valley in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast and from Paris. The village is listed among '' The Most Beautiful Villages of France'' (french: Les Plus ...

, Grand Prévôt de France,

Prévôt A ''prévôt'' () was a governmental position of varying importance in Ancien Régime France, typically referring to a civil officer, magistrate, head of cathedral or church, often anglicised as ''provost''. A unit of justice or court overseen by a ...

de l'hôtel du Roi. The château later became the property of Count Lionel de Tarragon (uncle of the sculptor Cyril de La Patellière). Following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the château was badly damaged during the 1950s, but was completely restored by its next owner, the architect

. The château then became the property of

, owner of the French pharmaceutical house Laboratoire Roger Bellon, and mayor of Romilly-sur-Aigre.

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; el, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotélis Onásis, ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), was a Greek-Argentinian shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and wa ...

and his partner

Maria Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...

considered purchasing the château shortly in the early 1960s around the time his divorce was finalized from his first wife

Tina Tina may refer to: People *Tina (given name), people and fictional characters with the given name ''Tina'' Places *Tina, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran *Tina, Tunisia, a town in Sfax Governorate, Tunisia * Tina, Guadalcanal, Solomon ...

Givenchy years

In the early 1970s, the château was acquired by the French couturier Count

(a younger son of Lucien Taffin de Givenchy, Marquis of Givenchy),Connie Roff
Who's Who: Hubert de Givenchy
''Vogue'', 11 November 2011 who owned it with his partner Philippe Venet. When Hubert de Givenchy died in March 2018, Philippe Venet inherited the noble 17th century residence and sold it to Hubert's nephews James and his brother Olivier de Givenchy, shortly before his own death in February 2022. Under Hubert de Givenchy's ownership, the property featured "labyrinthine

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

hedges and

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

inspired by the monastery of San Giorgio in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, a

rose garden A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses, and sometimes rose species. Most often it is a section of a larger garden. Designs vary tremendously and roses m ...

Bunny Mellon Rachel Lambert Mellon (August 9, 1910 – March 17, 2014), often known as Bunny Mellon, was an American horticulturalist, gardener, philanthropist, and art collector. She designed and planted a number of significant gardens, including the Whi ...

, a greenhouse, an artificial lake, a private chapel, a moat filled with water from the Loir, an indoor pool, and a dog cemetery." The monument has been classified as a

since 8 October 1984.

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

Chez Givenchy: Le Jonchet Revisited
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau, Jonchet Jonchet Monuments historiques of Eure-et-Loir

History

Givenchy years

See also

References

External links