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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The mansion of Vaudésir, located in Saint-Christophe-sur-le-Nais (Indre-et-Loire), was built in 1532 by René Bonamour, a tourangeau merchant. The act of sale of 1558 describes it as "a large house with 7 fireplaces, 4 towers, a chapel, a dovecote, courtyards and gardens, all enclosed with ditches". This document also attests to his acquisition in 1558 by François Massicault, also a merchant in Tours. The fief then came under the baronie de Saint-Christophe, before being attached to the duchy-pairie de La Vallière in 1667.

The property passed in 1593 to Jeanne Massicault, widow of Guillaume d'Argouges, who passed it on to his daughters. Through the marriage of one of them to François Testu, the mansion remained in this family from 1625 to 1719. A report of 1720 details his condition: three covered buildings in the Dardoise, an east wing with kitchen, office and fireplace rooms, and a gallery housing a chapel on the ground floor. Architectural changes, such as the replacement of the curved bays with 17th century sill windows, reflect its defensive and residential evolution.

In the 18th century, the mansion changed hands several times: the Baudard family (1719), Georges Latouche (1794), then the Sarcé (1810) and Emmanuel de Tessecourt (1875). Although the west wing, visible on the 1834 cadastre, has now disappeared, the remaining elements (partially dry, access bridge, square towers, slate roofs) retain their original architectural unit. Ranked a historic monument in 1947, its protection order was renewed in 2022 to include the house, moat, commons and their court.

The sources (Wikipedia, Monumentum) underline its role as a seigneurial residence linked to the peat trade activity of the 16th–15th centuries. The defensive grids, still visible on the Northwest Pavilion until the 1980s, recall its semi-fortified character in the Renaissance era. Today, the mansion remains an intact testimony of the civil architecture of the Touraine, combining residential, symbolic (private) and economic functions (columbier, courtyard).

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