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Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of the Kite was built around 1630 under Louis XIII by Sébastien Le Hardy, whose family occupied it until 1791. According to an oral tradition, Louis XIV reportedly visited him in 1651 and commented that he was "well-losed", which would have inspired his name. The king then anoblates the Le Hardy family by granting it the title of Marquis. The castle, renovated in the 1680s by the architect Libéral Bruant (known for the Hotel des Invalides), passed by alliance to the dal Pozzo, Italian princes, before being sold in 1791 to the Baudon de Mony family.

During the Revolution, the estate fell into disuse: orangery was burned in 1814 by Napoleonic troops to signal the arrival of Cossacks. In 1829, materials were sold to finance its maintenance. The present castle, rebuilt in 1865 by Charles-Victor Baudon de Mony, incorporated the remains of the seventeenth century ( stable, orangery) and the redesigned gardens. The site served as an American garrison during the First World War, then as a German field hospital during the Second World War, witnessing local battles in August 1944.

Purchased in 1998 by a Dutch owner, the castle was transformed into a private condominium after major renovations. Its 40-hectare estate preserves remarkable elements such as a chapel, a prison and a dovecote. A memorial, erected after 1918, recalls the engagement of American troops. The Baudon family, owner for two centuries, deeply marked its history, from post-revolutionary restoration to recent sale.

The architecture thus combines traces of the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, reflecting the social and political developments of the region. Military requisitions and successive transformations illustrate its role as both residential and strategic, particularly in global conflicts. Today, its collective management by co-owners perpetuates its legacy while adapting the site to contemporary uses.

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