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Origin and history

The Château de Ménilmontant, also known as Château de Saint-Fargeau, was built in the 18th century by Michel Le Peletier de Souzy for his family. It stood on the heights of Belleville, in the current Saint-Fargeau district (20th arrondissement of Paris), overlooking an area of 50 hectares. The park, structured in French-style gardens, wood and cultivated land, extended between the current streets of Belleville, Pelleport and Surmelin, including a turret lookout and a round basin. Its main entrance was located at 128 Pelleport Street, while a stone gate remains at 6 bis rue Saint-Fargeau.

The first castle, built in the 16th century in a fief from the dismemberment of Maulny, was acquired in 1695 by Michel Le Peletier, seigneur of Saint-Fargeau. The latter had a new building built south of Rue Saint-Fargeau, parallel to it. The estate, lined with walls, was enlarged in the 17th century, causing the diversion of the road from Belleville to Romainville (current rue de Romainville). The park was home to remarkable elements such as the second highest point in Paris (128.50 m), shared with the lookout of the Tourelles, and an alley that became the current Haxo street.

In the 18th century, Louis-Michel Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, heir to the estate, gradually sold the land: the northern part in 1763, then the borders in 1786. His daughter distributed the rest from 1802, and the old castle was sold in 1803. Belleville Cemetery was built in 1808 on old plots of the park. The current old network (Haxo Streets, Telegraph, Saint-Fargeau) retraces the aisles of the estate, while public facilities (Ménilmontant Reservoir, Barracks des Tourelles) later occupied the freed spaces.

The castle disappeared completely, but its footprint persists in the urban landscape. The portal of 6 bis rue Saint-Fargeau, the last vestige or architectural reminder, bears witness to its aristocratic past. The estate was close to other Parisian madnesses, such as the Carré de Baudouin madness in the west and the Château des Bruyères in the east, illustrating the attraction of the Belleville hills for the aristocracy and bourgeoisie of the 17th and 18th centuries.

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