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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Manor House of the Sagerie, located in Saint-Avertin (Indre-et-Loire), is a 17th-century building whose first records date back to 1577, when it belonged to Jean Joret. In 1620, Jornet, Sieur de la Sagerie and Canon of the Church of Tours, was the owner. The estate changed hands in 1645, acquired by Claude Fouquet, bourgeois tourangeau, then passed on to his son Mathurin Fouquet, adviser to the king and treasurer of France, married to Madeleine Pallu, heir to a line of local notables.

In the 18th century, the mansion passed by alliance to Jacques Normand de La Place, lieutenant general of the police of Tours, then to François de Jaucourt, knight of Saint-Louis, via marriage with Anne Le Normand. In 1797, Gentien Rangeard de La Germonière, controller of the Navy and general councillor, became owner with his wife, from the family of Mayor Étienne Benoist. The estate then extends over several municipalities, including farms and outbuildings.

The 19th century marked a succession of owners: Catherine-Rosalie Girard de Deffend in 1835, followed by his son Paul-Henri de La Porte du Theil, then by a series of buyers including Jacques Leduc (1853) and Edward-Jean-Baptiste Ghesquière (1920). Ranked a historic monument in 1942 for its monumental doric pediment portal, its corner turrets and richly decorated interiors (woodwork, tapestries), the manor house embodies the towered seigneurial architecture.

The main entrance, in the middle of the hanger, is flanked by two doric pilasters and surmounted by a pediment with coat of arms now erased. Two crenelated side gates serve the commons, while the wall of enclosure, punctuated with round turrets, delimits the property. The archaeological sources (Montoux, 1985) and the archives (Merimée) underline its heritage importance in the Centre-Val de Loire region.

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