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Origin and history

Loëx Fort House, also known as Loëx Castle, is a medieval building located in the commune of Bonne, Haute-Savoie. Initially center of a seigneury carried by the family of Loëx, it is mentioned for the first time in the 13th century. Hugues de Loëx, then his son Peter – knight and adviser to Count Amédée VI de Savoie – were the lords until the 15th century. The site, dependent on the castle of Bonne from the 14th century, illustrates the strategic importance of the fortified houses in the Faucigny.

In the 15th century, the seigneury changed hands: sold to Louis Machard, secretary of Duke Charles I of Savoie and anoblied in 1491, it then passed in 1561 to Philibert de La Forest. The family of La Forest kept it until 1693, when Janus (or Jean) Noyel de Bellegarde became its owner. The Machards of Chassey, then the Machards of Chillaz, inherited it until the early 19th century, before it was transmitted by alliance to the Bouvier d'Yvoire in 1827. The latter held it until 1955, when it was sold to a certain Mr. Boudet.

Architecturally, the strong house consists of two houses arranged in square, flanked by a round tower and a square tower. Among its remarkable elements, two rooms on the first floor, decorated with murals, were listed as historical monuments in 1993. These decorations reflect the evolution of the site, from a seigneurial fortress to a more elegant residence over the centuries.

The location of the strong house, on a terrace on the left bank of the Menoge, reflects its original defensive role. Its history, marked by changes of owners from the Savoyard nobility, offers an overview of the political and social dynamics of the region, including alliances between aristocratic families and their relationship with the Counts, then Dukes of Savoie.

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