Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of the Ternes came into being in the Middle Ages, first mentioned in 1320 under the name of " villam externam", a farm situated between the Roule and the Bois de Boulogne, on the parish of Villiers-la-Garenne. During the Hundred Years' War, the farm, then called Esterne Farm, was rebuilt and fortified by Pierre Jourdaig, who surrounded it with walls. This site becomes a seigneurial issue, disputed between the seigneur of Clichy and the abbey of Saint-Denis, with as a limit the present Rue Laugier.

In 1548, Pierre Habert, the king's valet and secretary, bought the farm and transformed it into a seigneurial residence, adding two turrets and a drawbridge. His grandson, Isaac Habert, obtained in 1634 the erection of the estate in fief by Louis XIII. At the end of the seventeenth century, there were five houses, three of which formed the castle. In 1715 Pomponne de Mirey, king's secretary, bought and built the castle entirely in its present form, removing ditches and drawbridge to create a manor surrounded by a park.

In the 18th century, the castle changed hands several times: sold in 1740 to Pierre Grégoire Masse, then in 1771 to Louis-François de Galliffet, it was finally acquired in 1778 by Joseph Normand, the nickname of architect Nicolas Lenoir. The latter splits the property, opens the street of the Arcade (future rue Bayen) through the castle, and sells plots. The site also houses a factory of anti-rust irons and then a powder factory during the Revolution. In the 19th century, the castle became a religious college before being partially destroyed and transformed into a municipal crèche in the 20th century.

The Château des Ternes was listed as a historical monument in 1928, deregistered in 1931, and re-registered in 1949 for its facades and roofs. Its classical architecture, marked by a central forebody and wings in retreat, bears the traces of Lenoir's transformations, including the street crossing the building. Today owned by the City of Paris, it houses a crèche and bears witness to the metamorphoses of a former medieval farm with aristocratic residence, then with public equipment.

The history of the castle is also linked to figures such as Abbé Pierre, who welcomed homeless people there in 1954, or General Dupont of the Etang, owner at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The archives also mention industrialists such as Jean-Antoine Chaptal, whose nearby chemical factory, active at the beginning of the 19th century, employed 150 workers on a land of four hectares. These industrial activities, coupled with Parisian urbanization, have gradually integrated the hamlet of Ternes into the capital.

Future

The buildings were declared of public utility in 1956 and became successively owned by the Public Assistance, then by the city of Paris.

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