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Origin and history

The castle of Meslay, located in the commune of Meslay in the Centre-Val de Loire region, is an emblematic monument of the Regency style, built between 1732 and 1735. Located on the edge of the Loir, it is distinguished by the harmony of its proportions, the sobriety of its lines and the finesse of its carved decoration. His architect, Jules-Michel Hardouin, heir to the tradition of Jules Hardouin and Jacques Gabriel, designed a building reflecting the elegance characteristic of this period of transition between classicism and rococo. The castle is part of an ambitious urban project, where village and estate were reconstructed simultaneously to form a coherent architectural complex, including a landscape park enclosed by walls.

The castle of Meslay has been listed as a Historic Monument since 2017, protecting not only the main building, but also its outbuildings (pigeon, garden yard, vegetable garden), its park with its factories, and its cooler. These elements, defined by a plan annexed to the classification order, are evidence of a desire for landscaped and functional integration rare for the time. The honorary courtyard, decorated with a gate and fenced walls, as well as the terrace, highlight the attention to detail and the search for balance between nature and architecture, typical of the eighteenth century.

The building also illustrates the evolution of pleasure castles under the Regency, where the aristocracy favoured more intimate and refined residences, far from the fascists of Versailles. The Meslay site, with its strategic location near the Loir, reflects this tendency to combine comfort, aesthetics and environmental harmony. Although the information on its current use (visits, rentals) is not specified in the sources, its recent classification confirms its heritage importance and its remarkable state of conservation.

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