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Origin and history

The gentilhommière de la Meslerie, located in Saint-Julien-de-Concelles in Loire-Atlantique, is an emblematic building of the 18th and 19th centuries. Initially, the land belonged to the lord of Saint-Julien, Damien de Chandenier, who wished to erect a summer pavilion there. However, the French Revolution forced him to emigrate, and the land was bought in 1758 by Jean Gabriel Cheguillaume, a Nantes bourgeois. He completed the reconstruction of the house in 1820, modifying the original project. The estate then passed into the hands of several families, including the Mercy, Castonnet, Guille des Buttes, and later, Gérald Van der Kemp, who sold it in 1929.

The architectural style of the genthommemière, attributed to François-Léonard Seheult, is distinguished by a circular living room projecting on the back façade, typical of the Nantes country houses. The ground floor includes two passing rooms, a large stairwell and a library, while the first floor features doric half-columns and ionic pilasters, in a neo-Greek style. A chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine, dating from 1701, precedes the construction of the house. It was damaged during the Revolution, losing its altarboard and statues of its altarpiece.

The estate, whose current axis, symmetrical barns and access aisle date back to the post-Revolution period, is now classified and listed in the Inventory of Historic Monuments. The entrance gate, older than the house, marked access to a decommissioned road leading to Loroux-Bottereau. The gentilhommière thus illustrates the architectural and social evolution of the Nantes region, between feudal heritage and post-revolutionary transformations.

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