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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Patrimoine
  3. Nouvelle-Aquitaine
  4. Haute-Vienne
  5. 87240 Ambazac

  6. Château de Mont-Méry

 Château de Mont-Méry à Ambazac en Haute-Vienne

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine défensif
Demeure seigneuriale
Château
Haute-Vienne

Château de Mont-Méry

    Les Caires 
    87240 Ambazac
Private property
Museums of France
All the castles of France
Photo de Château de Mont-Méry
Crédit photo : Fourgeaudg - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1900
2000
1883
Acquisition of the domain
1885
Construction of the castle
1889-1890
Development of the park
19 avril 1991
Historical monument classification
31 mars 1995
Change in classification
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Castle: facades and roofs; ground floor and its decor, including the winter garden; stairwell and bearings, with their woodwork; On the first floor, Julie Dannat-Haviland's room and boudoir, Madame d'Albis' room and hallway, with their woodwork. Façades and roofs of the house known as the turbine house, the farm, the barn and stables, the henhouse (with its pond). Entry hook; manufacture; wash; park, including the vegetable garden, the castle terraces, the castral mound, the English river, the ponds and the Montméry Rural Road (cad. A 227 to 232, 235, 242 to 253, 408): Order of 19 April 1991, amended by Order of 31 March 1995. Fronts and roofs of the entrance pavilion; basement, first floor (except classified parts), second and third floors of the castle (cad. A 241, 248): registration by order of 19 April 1991

Key figures

Théodore Haviland - Sponsor and industrial American Porcelainer, owner of the castle.
Richard Morris Hunt - Senior Architect Designed eclectic plans.
Frederick Law Olmsted - Landscape Drawn the botanical park.
Menissier - Local architect Supervised the work.
Mr. James - Head of Hunt's workshop Author of a preliminary draft of the castle.

Origin and history

The Château de Mont-Méry, located in Ambazac, Haute-Vienne, was built in 1885 for Théodore Haviland, an American porcelain industrialist based in Limoges. The architect Richard Morris Hunt, known for his achievements in the United States and the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, drew up his plans, combining Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Art 1900 styles. This eclectic mixture is found both on the façade and on the inside, where the rooms are organized according to a typical French distribution, inspired by the "modern houses" of Viollet-le-Duc.

The park, built between 1889 and 1890 by Frederick Law Olmsted, a famous American landscaper, houses more than a hundred rare plant species, including Japanese andromedes and centuries-old oaks. Crossed by a river and punctuated by ponds, it also incorporates the remains of a 11th–12th century castral mound, one of the best preserved in Haute-Vienne. This utility and ornamental park also includes ancillary buildings such as a farm, stables or a washhouse.

Ranked a historical monument in 1991 (with modifications in 1995), the castle was used as a setting for award-winning films by the César, such as Providence by Alain Resnais or Lady Chatterley by Pascale Ferran. The protections cover facades, roofs, some interiors (woodworks, stairs), as well as the entire park, including the medieval motte and terraces. The building thus illustrates the American influence in Limousin through its sponsor, architects and landscape.

The construction was initiated by Theodore Haviland, who acquired the estate in 1883 and entrusted the work to the limousin architect Menissier, after a preliminary project by Mr James, Hunt's collaborator. The castle is distinguished by its two square wings, towers and rotundas, while its interior combines bourgeois salons, library and service kitchen. The site, which is open to visitors, bears witness to a transatlantic architectural dialogue and exceptional botanical heritage.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum