Gadancourt – a family residence on a human scale
The Chateau de Gadancourt, which has been classed as a historical monument since 15 June 1948, is a property which has been owned by the same family since 1747. It comprises two 17th century pavilions, one to the north and the other to the south, which are joined together by a central main building constructed between 1765 and 1766 at the request of the owner, Pierre-Victor Roger de Gadancourt.
Gadancourt – a family residence on a human scale
The Chateau de Gadancourt, which has been classed as a historical monument since 15 June 1948, is a property which has been owned by the same family since 1747. It comprises two 17th century pavilions, one to the north and the other to the south, which are joined together by a central main building constructed between 1765 and 1766 at the request of the owner, Pierre-Victor Roger de Gadancourt.
A chateau characteristic of 18th century lifestyle
As we see it today, the Chateau de Gadancourt is the work of Martin and Jacques Cheronnet, two mason-entrepreneurs from Meulan in the southern part of the Greater Paris region. The central building, which was built to their plans, was designed to fit in perfectly with the older pavilions. It is built on two levels with seven bays. On its two facades, the slightly protruding central part of the building is topped by a triangular pediment and a gabled roof with two sloping sides.
Set at right angles to the main courtyard to the west, the two pavilions form side wings. Comprising two and a half storeys, they are covered by high French-style roofs, with wide chimneys on either side.
Since the chateau was built on a north-south axis, the ground floor reception rooms receive light on both sides, making them particularly luminous. They comprise a dining room, an entrance-vestibule, a blue room and a white room. These four connecting rooms look out on to the garden and park, giving an unobstructed view of the chateau’s natural surroundings in the 18th century style, inspired by the impassioned “Reveries” of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
The park
Completely surrounded by walls, the park of the Chateau de Gadancourt, which dates from the Middle Ages, extends over a total area of eight hectares. It comprises three parts: the upper park, the great lawn and the lower park.
The upper park, which was designed during the reign of Louis XV and contains many remarkable trees, was arranged with particular care. The quincunx of lime trees, comprising five trees planted in a rectangular pattern, is particularly popular with visitors and is classified as a historical monument.
In front of the façade on the park side of the chateau are hedges of box and yew, as well as big cone-shaped yew trees which seem to mount the guard around the terrace. They were planted just before the start of the First World War in 1914 by Viscount Joseph de Boury, who died for his country in Verdun in 1915.
The outbuildings
Built on the foundations of a medieval manor, the Chateau de Gadancourt has many outbuildings. The commons or service area, which form the southern side of the main courtyard, were built at the same time as the main building. They still house the chateau’s kitchen.
Since the reign of Louis XIII, the main courtyard has been bordered by two small pavilions which have been rebuilt over the years. The small northern pavilion, which was made into a caretaker’s lodge at the start of the 19th century, served as a seigneurial courtroom before the French Revolution, when the lord of Gadancourt acted as a justice of the peace.
The small southern pavilion houses the chateau’s chapel, which was rebuilt in the early 19th century.
Along with the dovecote, of which only a portion of the original rounded wall remains, the big building visible from the churchyard is the main vestige of the ancient manor house. It dates from the 13th century, except for the wooden bell tower which was added in the 19th century and was added to the supplementary list of historical monuments in 1948. In it, one can admire the big attic linen room and the vaulted cellars which served as cattle stalls, stables or apple stores according to the needs of the time.
Until the 19th century, the chateau was virtually autonomous, drawing most of its resources from the revenues and products of the agricultural estate attached to it, which varied in size over the years, as well from its woods, its hunting grounds, its vegetable garden and its orchards. Along the side of the lower courtyard, a long-single-storey building, which used to be called the “big farm” houses a variety of service areas, including a cider press, a carpentry shop and a laundry room.
A well-preserved environment in the heart of the Vexin Français regional park
Situated less than 50 kilometres from Paris in the north-western part of the Greater Paris region, between Pontoise and Magny-en-Vexin, the Chateau de Gadancourt enjoys a particularly well-preserved environment. The Vexin Français region, which was the historical royal domain of the Capetians, has always been one of the leading French wheat-producing regions and one of the favourite places of residence of the servants and officers of the crown, from whose ranks came the builders of the chateau.
A monument which is typical of the Val d’Oise department and the Ile de France region generally, the chateau is situated in the centre of a small village with a population of less than 100 people, which, in June 2017, became a hamlet attached to the municipality of Avernes. It is adjacent to the fine 12th century church dedicated to Martin of Tours, patron saint of the Gauls. With its Romanesque lantern tower, it is classed as a historical monument. The tradition says that it was built by Agnès de Montfort, the mistress of Meulan, in thanksgiving for the return of her husband, Count Galeran II, who, with sword at his side and the cross on his chest, had gone on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
As the seigneurial church, Saint Martin’s contained the tombs of the lords of Gadancourt until the Revolution, as the tomb stones of Jehan and Hector Lefèvre de Hazeville testify. Seriously damaged in 1944 in the fighting which followed the Normandy landings, the church was rebuilt in 1951. It was one of the first in France to be rebuilt thanks to the expertise of the head architect of the centre of historical monuments, Sylvain Stym-Popper, and the energy of the chatelaine, Béatrix de Galembert, Viscountess of Boury.
