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Origin and history

The Hotel de la Motte-Sanguin, also known as Château de la Motte-Sanguin, is a 4th quarter of the 18th century mansion located in Orléans, on the right bank of the Loire. Built between 1788 and 1792, it rises on the site of old 15th century fortifications, destroyed to give way to an innovative cotton factory, equipped with a steam machine. Its architecture, attributed to Victor Louis or Benoît Lebrun, is distinguished by a frame inspired by Philibert de l'Orme and a curved roof.

The site initially houses a cotton spinning plant founded in 1787 by Philippe d'Orléans (known as Philippe-Égalité), in partnership with English industrialists such as Thomas Foxlow. This manufacturer, with its 7,200 spindles and 800 workers, uses a Périer fire pump to double productivity. The hotel became the residence of Foxlow, director of spinning, before being sold as a national property in 1795 after the death of Philippe d'Orléans, guillotined in 1793.

In the 19th century, the hotel changed hands several times: bought by Napoleon III in 1869 for the hospices of Orléans, transformed into an artillery school in 1876, then transferred to the Loiret department in 1899. Ranked a historic monument in 1928, it is now owned by the Villemain group, which restored it. Since 2014, it has hosted researchers in residence via the Studium association, while maintaining its original interior decorations (lounges, bedroom).

The area of 13,000 m2, formerly industrial, now includes residential buildings and a former school building of 1876. The remains of the spinning, destroyed by fires, have disappeared, but the hotel still bears witness to the technical and architectural innovation of the Industrial Revolution. His name, Motte-Sanguin, comes from a deformation of La Motte Sans Gain, renamed in 1852 in homage to Antoine Sanguin, bishop of Orleans in the 16th century.

The hotel's architecture blends neoclassical elegance with bold techniques: balustrade facades, modillon cornice, and a small chevilla wood frame inspired by the Paris wheat hall. Inside, vestibule, living rooms and bedroom preserve their 18th-century decors, while the curved top rests on nail-free, revolutionary system for the era.

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