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Origin and history

The Château du Grand-Blottiereau, located in the Doulon-Bottière district of Nantes, was built between 1742 and 1747 for Gabriel Michel, a slave shipowner and director of the Compagnie des Indes. Acquired in 1741 for 90,000 pounds, this area reflects the wealth of the Nantes traders linked to the transatlantic trade. Although the architect remains uncertain, the plans evoke the influence of Jacques V Gabriel or Germain Boffrand, the latter having introduced the rock style in France.

In 1762 Gabriel Michel sold the castle to Guillaume Seigne, who added commons. The estate changed hands several times in the 19th century, notably via Thomas Dobbrée, whose wife inherited. In 1848, the construction of the Tours-Saint-Nazaire railway line deprived the castle of its view of the Loire, compromising its potential as an imperial residence for Napoleon III. Dobrée finally left the estate to the city of Nantes in 1905, under the condition of creating an exotic garden and a colonial museum.

During world wars, the castle served as a military hospital (1917), suffered a fire destroying its structure, and then housed British troops before being requisitioned by the Germans. From 1945 to 1961, he hosted a children's house for war orphans. Ranked historic monument in 1966 for its facades, roofs and interior decorations, it remains closed to the public today pending a new assignment, despite the safeguard work carried out between 1988 and 1993.

Architecturally, the castle is distinguished by a central house body framed by galleries and pavilions, made of Chauvigny stone and tuffeau. Its interior, inaccessible, includes a marble vestibule, a hanging staircase, and a large living room overlooking the courtyard and gardens. The facades, decorated with mascarons, illustrate the splendour of the 18th century Nantes, while the park, open to the public, preserves traces of its colonial past, like a tropical greenhouse built in 1902.

The castle embodies the paradoxes of Nantes history: symbol of the prosperity linked to slavery, then place of memory and solidarity (orphans, soldiers). Its present state, between abandonment and protection, questions about the preservation of a prestigious and controversial heritage, marked by the partial oblivion of its successive uses.

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