The Château de Rastignac is a neoclassical style country house located in La Bachellerie, near

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...

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 ...

. It was built between 1789 and 1817 to designs by the architect Mathurin Salat (1755–1822), sometimes called "Blanchard". The house was built of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

by the Marquis de Rastignac.

History

LA BACHELLERIE (Dordogne) - Château de Rastignac

Construction of the château was delayed by disruptions from the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

and

Napoleonic wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. When completed, the house was decorated in the

French Empire French Empire (french: Empire Français, link=no) may refer to: * First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 and by Napoleon II in 1815, the French state from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 * Second French Empire, led by Nap ...

style. In 1944, fleeing

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...

(SS) forces attempted to destroy the Château de Rastignac in retribution against the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

.Lynn H. Nicholas. ''The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War'' (New York: Vintage, 1995), pp. 285-86. Using

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

as an accelerant, the fire burned for five days. Only the exterior limestone shell survived. After eight years the structure was stabilized and a roof placed overhead for protection. The semi-circular Ionic portico of the Château de Rastignac is frequently compared with

Maison carrée d'Arlac The Maison carrée d'Arlac is a neoclassical folly building constructed between 1785 and 1789, in the town of Mérignac just outside Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on t ...

and the South Portico of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

, and there have been speculations about the possible influences of one house on the other. The first official

guide, published in 1962, suggested a link between Hoban's design for the South Portico and Château de Rastignac. Though

James Hoban James Hoban (1755 – December 8, 1831) was an Irish-American architect, best known for designing the White House. Life James Hoban was a Roman Catholic raised on Desart Court estate belonging to the Earl of Desart near Callan, County Kilkenny ...

, the original White House architect, did not visit the region, the third American president,

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

(who had conducted architectural revisions of the White House) did visit the region and met architect Salat earlier, while serving as United States ambassador to France. Supporters of a connection posit that

, during his tour of

in 1789, viewed Salat's architectural drawings (which were on-file at the College) at the

École Spéciale d'Architecture The École spéciale d'architecture (ÉSA; formerly École centrale d'architecture) is a private school for architecture at 254, boulevard Raspail in Paris, France. The school was founded in 1865 by engineer Emile Trélat as reaction against the ...

(Bordeaux Architectural College). They further speculate, without proof, that on his return to the U.S. Jefferson may have shared the idea with Washington, Hoban, Monroe, and Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Reconstruction of the château's interior spaces was completed in 2003 and it is now divided into seven residential apartments (five for the main building, and two for the former coach house).

References

External links

Structurae: Château de Rastignac

* https://www.sudouest.fr/2016/11/08/en-images-decouvrez-la-maison-blanche-en-perigord-2560494-1980.php * http://la-bachellerie.over-blog.com/article-chateau-de-rastignac-112189962.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Rastignac, Chateau de Châteaux in Dordogne Neoclassical architecture in France Chateau De Rastignac Monuments historiques of Dordogne

History

References

Further reading

External links