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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The house of Vallade, located in Rétaud in Charente-Maritime, is a castle built in the eighteenth century, more precisely from 1746 by Henriette Michel, widow of Seguin Gentil, lord of Lafond and Rétaud. This house replaces an earlier residence belonging to the Vallade family. Passed to his daughter Eustelle and then to his granddaughter Angélique, the estate is marked by conflictive successions, especially after the divorce of Angelique following the emigration of her first husband during the Revolution. She remarried with Jean Millon, but a long trial led to the seizure of the castle, awarded in 1823 to Henri Constant d'Abzac.

In 1844, Count Jean de Luc, also known as Brother Théodore, acquired the house and transformed it into an asylum of Notre-Dame de Vallade, intended to accommodate orphans or abandoned children of Charente-Inferior. The sub-prefect of Saintes then describes an estate of 5 hectares with a large but dilapidated house. The agricultural colony, criticized for its poor reception conditions and educational deficiencies, is closed for financial failure. Some mentors, later accused of sexual abuse in another colony, contribute to his bad reputation. The estate was seized and sold in 1852 to Georges Joseph Picard, then sold in 1890 to the Meaume family.

Architecturally, the home of Vallade is a noble renovated house, characterized by a low building accessible via two central perns, a triangular pediment above the door, and a roof with broken windows. Despite the loss of a wing and a cochère door, its facades, roofs, porches and interior staircase have been listed as historic monuments since 1992. The site is also based on archaeological remains, adding an additional heritage dimension.

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