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Origin and history

Bagatelle Castle was originally built in 1752 by Abraham van Robais, heir to a dynasty of Flemish Protestant draperies in Abbeville under Colbert. Originally, this marina, called "bagatelle" or "madness", had only four rooms without foundations or cellar, designed to accommodate customers of the Rames factory. Its light architecture, with a roof terrace decorated with statues and facades pierced with large bays, reflected the nascent Louis XVI style.

Around 1765, the building was raised from an attic to add rooms, transforming it into a habitable residence. In 1793 the van Robais, whose textile monopoly had not been renewed in 1768, sold the castle to Pierre-François Roze, then to François-Gabriel de Wailly in 1810. He had the "Le Mansart" peak built and the park enlarged, which became a meeting place for musicians such as Saint-Saëns and Erik Satie, invited by Paul de Wailly.

The castle suffered damage during the Second World War (a shell fell on the north wing without detonating), but was restored by Jacques de Wailly, who in 1963 received a prize from the Masters-d'oeuvre in danger of the hands of André Malraux. Ranked as a Historic Monument in 1926 (house) and 1946 (gardens), it houses a summer salon with pumpkin woodwork inspired by a gift from Marie-Antoinette, and a park combining French garden (boulingrin, linden) and English garden (remarkable trees, topiary).

Wailly's family kept Bagatelle nearly two centuries before selling it in 1998. Since 2018, it has been owned by Christophe Carbonnier-Pauwels, who continues the restoration work. The estate, open to the public, bears witness to the alliance between industrial heritage (manufacture of the Rames), architectural (folio of the eighteenth century) and landscape (Botanical park).

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