Development project 1808 (≈ 1808)
Trusted to Jean-Prosper Mariaval for the grounds.
1934
Registration Historic Monument
Registration Historic Monument 1934 (≈ 1934)
Protection of waterfront land.
1955-1957
Rehabilitation in a public garden
Rehabilitation in a public garden 1955-1957 (≈ 1956)
Pool and play areas added.
2016
Renovation and reopening
Renovation and reopening 2016 (≈ 2016)
Plant maze and dry fountain created.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
Land limited to the North by the Hoche Barracks, to the East by the tanks of the Service des Eaux de Versailles and to the South by the property of Madame Picquois: inscription by order of 6 September 1934
Key figures
Famille Francine - Hydraulic engineers
Authors of the Versailles Garden System.
Jean-Prosper Mariaval - Architect
Author of the 1808 project.
Origin and history
Louis XIV was originally a horse-drinker at the southern end of the Avenue de Sceaux in Versailles. Transformed in 2016 into a plant maze, dry fountain and playground, he pays tribute to the Francine family, hydraulic engineers of the Versailles gardens. The site, once a vague land dominated by the Gobert reservoirs, was built in 1934 as a green area protected by the Historic Monuments.
In 1808, the architect Jean-Prosper Mariaval proposed a project for this place, then in waste. Destroyed during the Second World War with the exception of its wall, the site was rehabilitated between 1955 and 1957 in a public garden with central basin and playgrounds. A new restoration, completed in 2016, integrated the wall in the hemicycle and modernized space as part of the restructuring of the Versailles-Chantiers district.
The square of the Francine, adjacent to the garden of the Gobert ponds (created in 2014), symbolizes the evolution of royal spaces in places of public life. The land bordering the waterworks, registered in 1934, is bounded to the north by Hoche Barracks, to the east by the reservoirs of the Waters of Versailles, and to the south by a private property. Their recent rehabilitation perpetuates the hydraulic and landscape heritage of Versailles.
