Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Levat Castle is a madness (bourgeois pleasure residence) built in Montpellier between 1763 and 1764. Sponsored by merchant Jean-David Levat, he embodies neoclassical architecture with its terraces, window doors in the middle of the hanger and its recast equipment. The building, of a great sobriety outside, hides interiors richly decorated with gypseries depicting scenes of the Fables de La Fontaine.

Owned by the Chamber of Trades of the Hérault until 2014, the castle was controversial when it was put on sale in 2008. The renovation, which was completed in 2014, allowed an architectural firm to be set up there, while part of the park was allocated to a senior high-end residence. Historical orangery, contiguous to new constructions, recalls the old estate.

Ranked a historic monument in 1944, Levat Castle owes its protection to its architectural complex (building, terraces, wrought iron balconies). Its recent history illustrates the tensions between heritage preservation and real estate pressure in an expanding city like Montpellier. The rare written sources are based on the work of Albert Leenhardt (1931) and Claude Huver (2025).

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