Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Montjoye Castle, located in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines in the Yvelines, has its origins around 1830-1840 with the construction of a hunting lodge nicknamed "Mon Jouet" by the daughter of M. Groscot de la Chapelle. This modest building, enlarged by successive owners, becomes a castle and gives its name to the place called "Montjoye" (sometimes spelled "Montjoie") to the Third Republic. The field then appears in census registers.

In 1876 Charles Loreau and his wife acquired Montjoye, before Baron João Ferreira Dos Santos Silva, a Portuguese diplomat and Commander of the Order of Christ, became owner in 1890. He and his wife Henriette Landau undertook the first significant construction of the castle. The estate changed hands in 1894 when Lord Henry Standish and his wife Hélène de Pérusienne des Cars bought 200,000 francs, financed by the latter's dots.

Henry Standish, of Franco-British origin, enlarged the estate in 1899 and modernized the castle after the fire of the Bazar de la Charité in 1897, adding a stone staircase for security reasons. He was also involved in the construction of the local church and welcomed wounded during the First World War. In 1908, the southern facade was remodeled in a British style, marked by a large bay and painted woodwork.

The castle was sold in 1920 to the banker André Lazard, a hunting enthusiast, who set up stables, a pheasant farm and developed gardens, including an orchid greenhouse. After his death in 1931, the estate remained undividual until 1938, then moved to his widow Georgette Bertier until 1971. The heirs, daughters of Georgette, finally gave up Montjoye to the French Football Federation in 1983, which made it the Fernand-Sastre National Technical Centre.

Among the notable figures related to the castle, General Gaston de Galliffet, nicknamed the "murderer of the Commune", stayed there at the end of the 19th century, frequenting the Standish despite personal tensions. The gate in the middle of the former Notre-Dame-de-Clairefontaine Abbey was also raised in the park in 1914, adding a historical dimension to the estate.

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