Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Malouinière de la Chipaudière, also known as château de la Chipaudière, is one of the most imposing malouinières of Saint-Malo, these marinas built by the shipowners of the corsaire city in the 18th century. Located in Paramé (now integrated in Saint-Malo), it was built between 1710 and 1720 under the supervision of François-Auguste Magon de la Lande, shipowner, privateer under Louis XIV and director of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales. This monument embodies the economic power of Saint-Malo at its peak, mixing architectural fascists and maritime heritage.

The property originally belonged to the Pépin family in the 15th century, before being transformed into a castle of classic style decorated with a pediment with Magon weapons, crowned with a crown of marquis. The chapel, blessed in 1735, houses a carved wooden altar and a campanile, while the commons, dating from the seventeenth century, display gerbers with alternately rounded and triangular pediments. The estate covers 4 hectares, with a French garden attributed to Le Nôtre, organized in three terraces leading to a mirror of water lined with centuries-old linden trees.

The malouinière remained in the Magon family until the Revolution, passing notably to Nicolas Auguste Magon de la Lande (guillotine in 1794) and then to his widow, before being handed over by inheritance to the Besniers, then to General Magon de la Giclais in the 20th century. Ranked a historic monument in 1982 for its facades, roofs, interior decorations (woodworks, leather of Cordoba, paintings of Jouy) and its garden, it remains a private property open to the visit, witness to the maritime and aristocratic history of Brittany.

The interior preserves remarkable elements such as a dining room adorned with Carrara marble and Norway oak, a desk lined with Jouy canvases, and rooms with Dutch oak panelling. The chapel, founded in 1672 for a weekly mass before being transferred to the Chipaudière, bears the coat of arms of the Magon and the seigneury of La Lande. This place also illustrates the links between the economic power, religion and nobility of the Ancien Régime, through its foundation and its heraldic decorations.

The site, isolated by high walls, reflects the social status of its owners: a monumental portal and a rabine mark the entrance of the estate, highlighting the distinction between the seigneurial space and the surrounding rural world. The Malouinière de la Chipaudière, with its symmetrical architecture and outbuildings (columbier, orangery), thus embodies the alliance between luxury, functionality and symbolism, characteristic of the Malouin elites of the eighteenth century.

External links