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Origin and history

The Château de Grillemont, located in La Chapelle-Blanche-Saint-Martin (Indre-et-Loire), has its origins in the 15th century under Bertrand de Lescoët, Governor of Loches. Acquisé circa 1465 by Roland de Lescoët, adviser to Louis XI, he welcomed the king and his entourage. The medieval fortress, with moat and three towers, was partially dismantled in the 18th and 19th centuries to give way to a residence more adapted to modern uses.

In 1739, the estate came into the hands of farmer-general François Balthazard Dangé d'Orsay, then his nephew René-François-Constance, Marshal de camp. After the Revolution, it was sold to the Nantes shipowner Joseph Hippolyte Collineau (1798), before changing several owners, including the Count of Gasville and the banker Gérasime Lecointre. The latter, in the mid-19th century, undertook a major restoration with architect Charles Guérin, preserving the 18th-century ordinance while modernizing interiors, such as the music salon decorated under the Second Empire.

In the 20th century, the castle played a role during the Second World War, successively housing administrations, prisoners and nuns. Georges Lecointre, a geologist and grandson of Gérasime, developed an innovative farm there, while his daughter Colette, Countess of Saint-Seine, created a herd of juries and renowned dairy goats. Ranked a historic monument in 1989 for its facades, staircase and living room, Grillemont opened its doors to the public in the 1980s for visits and receptions.

Architecturally, the present castle is organized around a court of honor set up at the site of the old dungeon, framed by 18th and 19th century buildings. The communes, built in U at the end of the 18th century, complete the whole. Despite the transformations, three towers and court walls still remind the medieval fortress, while the interior decorations, such as the redesigned stairwell or the music salon, bear witness to successive stylistic developments.

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