Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The château d'Hauterive is a pleasure house built in the 17th century on the heights of Issoire, in Auvergne. The bell of his chapel, dated 1653, attests to this initial period. The site overlooks the city and combines utilitarian and decorative elements: bread oven, press, wine cellar, cooler, as well as a terraced vegetable garden surrounded by boxwood, a flower garden and a park of 7 hectares decorated with groves, alleys and green cabinets. These accommodations reflect a search for harmony between aesthetics and functionality, typical of the seigneurial residences of the Old Regime.

In the middle of the 18th century, the estate is described as a complete set offering "all the amenities that can make the stay of the countryside pleasant", in "one of the most beautiful countries of the Limagne of Auvergne". In 1761 François Lecourt (1725–96), president of the Court of Aids of Clermont-Ferrand, acquired the land of Hauterive and took its name. He undertook important work: interior renovation of the house and remodeling of the roof. The castle, which has remained in the Lecourt d'Hauterive family since that date, retains an interior decoration from the 19th century (woodworks, paintings, stuccos), while its park and outbuildings (supply, stables, stables) illustrate the operation of a large rural estate at the end of the 18th century.

Ranked a Historical Monument in 1991, the castle is associated with the figure of Ernest of Hauterive, writer and military, although its exact connection with the domain is not detailed in the sources. The moat, terraces and gardens, preserved in their original state, make it a rare testimony of architecture and the aristocratic way of life of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The site also includes a chapel decorated with painted decorations, as well as landscape elements such as fountains, basins and a ha-ha, characteristic of French-style gardens.

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