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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de la Haichois is a building built in 1888 by architect Ambroise Baudry for Count Odon de Toulouse-Lautrec, uncle of the famous painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. It replaces an ancient 17th century castle from which remains the chapel and dovecote, dated 1680. The estate, located in the east of the village of Mordelles in Ille-et-Vilaine, is organized around a landscaped park renovated for the occasion, supplemented by stables, a farm and a closed vegetable garden.

The castle adopts a dissymmetric plan, with a rectangular main body decorated with prominent pavilions, a polygonal forebody to the south and a circular tower to the east. Inside, 17th-century carved wooden panels (circa 1675), inherited from the old building, stand alongside spaces decorated in an eclectic style. A corner piece, probably a smoker, illustrates the orientalizing style, the only known example of the colorist work of Ambrosie Baudry.

Listed in the general inventory of cultural heritage, the castle sees some of its interior parts (scenery, lounges, vestibule) protected by a decree of inscription to historical monuments in 2007, replaced by a new decree in 2025. The estate thus preserves an architectural and decorative testimony of the eclectic tastes of the late 19th century, mixing classical heritage and stylistic innovations.

The English-style park, the 17th-century chapel and dovecote, as well as the commons ( stables, farm), complete this complex representative of the aristocratic residences of the time. The castle remains associated with the Toulouse-Lautrec family, although its current use (visits, rentals, guest rooms) is not specified in the available sources.

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