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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The castle of Mesnil-d'O is a house of the 2nd quarter of the 18th century, located on the old town of Vieux-Fumé (Calvados, Normandy). Built in limestone, it illustrates the architecture of the bourgeois residences in Caennais under Louis XV, with an almost intact interior decor, especially in reception rooms such as the large living room or boudoir. The site was previously home to an older building, before it was acquired in 1666 by the Protestant family Morin du Mesnil, forced to abjure after the revocation of the edict of Nantes.

The present castle was erected by Jacques Robert Morin of Mesnil, Major of the bourgeois militia of Caen, and completed around 1740. He served as a secondary residence and hunting lodge for his daughter and son-in-law, Élie de Beaumont, before they returned to Canon's land. The outbuildings and park were restored in the 1960s, while the interior was renovated in the early 1980s. The modest but emblematic building was partially classified as historical monuments by order of 7 October 1975, covering its facades, roofs, wrought iron staircase and four rooms on the ground floor.

According to complementary sources, the castle also belonged to the Colleville family, and a chapel was built there after 1808 before being destroyed after 1938. These elements highlight its evolution between private residence and protected heritage, reflecting the social and architectural transformations of Normandy in the 18th and 19th centuries.

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