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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Château de Villers-sous-Saint-Leu, located in the eponymous village of the Oise, is an emblematic building of the 17th and 18th centuries. This monument, inscribed in historical monuments since 19 September 1966, illustrates the aristocratic residential architecture of this period. Its facades, roofs, courtyard of honour, moat and entrance gate are protected, testifying to its heritage importance.

At the end of the 18th century, during the French Revolution, the castle belonged to the Duke of Mascrany. Forced to sell it around 1800, he passed into the hands of a Belgian, Jean Jacques Digelman. In 1906, the castle was acquired by Monsieur Berson, a resident of Villers-sous-Saint-Leu, whose descendants still reside in the village. At the same time, Auguste Rodin, seduced by what he termed "a superb mansion farm," tried unsuccessfully to buy it.

The castle embodies the historical upheavals of its time, passing from the hands of the aristocracy to bourgeois and then local owners. Its inscription as a historic monument in 1966 underscores its architectural value and its role in regional history. Today, there remains a symbol of the heritage of the Hauts-de-France, linked to figures such as Rodin or the local families that preserved it.

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