Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Roseraie was built in 1866 by Benoni Vagniez-Fiquet, an Amienese textile merchant, as a gendarmerie granted to the state. The building, with an observation tower, stables and prisons, served as a barracks until World War I. Its park, built around 1906 for Jeanne Vagniez-Renon, included a pond, a cave, a maze and a kiosk, reflecting the fascist of this bourgeois family.

In 1930, André Bouctot, heir by covenant, bought the property and settled there in 1936. During World War II, the Roseraie briefly housed a French command post in 1940 and was occupied by the Germans until 1944. The latter dismantle the observation turret, a symbol of local resistance. After the war, André Bouctot, overwhelmed by the death of his wife, left the estate abandoned until his death in 1972.

Acquired in 1975 by Pierre Lecomte and Béatrice Lecomte-Vagniez, direct descendants of Benoni Vagniez-Fiquet, the Roseraie is restored after decades of degradation. The park, once again a jungle, and the house, emptied of its furniture, regain their brilliance. Today, the estate still belongs to the family, six generations after its construction, and its park has been classified as Historic Monument since 2020 for its landscaped and architectural heritage.

The site also bears witness to a notable military episode: in 1940, Major Junin directed artillery fire from the tower, neutralizing some 20 German tanks before the French withdrawal. This action claims to the turret to be dismantled by the occupants, erasing a key element of the defensive history of the place.

Architecturally, the Roseraie combines military utilitarianism (prisons, stables) and bourgeois aesthetics (park with English, decorative elements). Its evolution reflects the social changes from the 19th to the 20th century, from public buildings to private residences and then to local memory symbols.

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