Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Castel d'Andorte, located in the Bouscat (Gironde), has its origins in the 10th century under the name of Hoc-Lou (Haut-Lieu), property of the lords of Illac. In the Middle Ages, the estate, renamed En Dorte, became the seigneury of Endorte in 1180, ceded by Arnaud d'Illac to the Saint-Seurin Chapter of Bordeaux. After centuries of litigation between noble families (of Goth, Samadat, Duval) and the Chapter, the delabated estate was bought in 1781 by Abbé Jean de Laborde, Dean of Saint-Seurin.

In 1785, the abbot commissioned the architect François Lhote, following the plans of Victor Louis (creator of the Grand Theatre of Bordeaux), a neo-classical residence completed in 1787. The Revolution forced the Abbé into exile in 1789; the castel, confiscated as national property in 1795, is sold. In the 19th century, Dr Joseph-Guillaume Desmaisons, nephew of Dr Guillotin, transformed him into a psychiatric clinic for affluent patients in 1845, active until 1968. The poet Juan Ramón Jiménez stays there and celebrates the park in his works.

Partially classified as historical monuments (2009 and 2023), the castel was acquired by the city of Bouscat in 1989. After decades of abandonment, his rehabilitation began in 2022 and aims to make it a cultural centre (dance school, theatre, exhibitions). The Chêneraie Park, opened to the public in 1990, retains the traces of its original French garden and its 19th century landscape.

The architecture combines a central three-level pavilion (Louis XVI lounges, rotunda with antique decorations) and four pavilions of symmetrical commons, including a chapel and an orangery. The sober neo-classical facades incorporate wine bas-reliefs in homage to the Abbé de Laborde, who then owned vineyards. Fires (1925) and successive transformations altered some interior settings, such as the entrance peristyle or the large living room.

The domain illustrates the transformations of an aristocratic place (recreational home) into a medical institution and then into public equipment. Its history reflects feudal conflicts in Aquitaine, revolutionary upheavals, and the evolution of psychiatric care in the 19th century, before becoming a municipal heritage dedicated to culture.

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