The Château d'Issy, at

Issy-les-Moulineaux Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called ''Isséens'' in French. It is one of Paris' entrances and is located from Notre-Dame Cath ...

, in the

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a département in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the we ...

department of France, was a small

French Baroque French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

château on the outskirts of Paris. It was destroyed during the

Paris Commune of 1871 The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...

History

The small plot of land was bought in 1681 by the ''

président à mortier The ''président à mortier'' () was one of the most important legal posts of the French ''Ancien Régime''. The ''présidents'' were principal magistrates of the highest juridical institutions, the ''parlements'', which were the appeal courts. ...

'' Denis Talon, who commissioned the architect

Pierre Bullet Pierre Bullet (c. 1639 – 1716) was a French architect The following is a chronological list of French architects. Some of their major architectural works are listed after each name. Middle Ages Étienne de Bonneuil (late 13th century) ...

, a pupil of

François Blondel François Blondel ( June 1618 – 21 January 1686) was a soldier, engineer of fortifications, mathematician, diplomat, military and civil engineer and architect, called "the Great Blondel", to distinguish him in a dynasty of French architects. H ...

, to design a small ''maison de plaisance''. Denis Talon also commissioned the landscape architect

André Le Nôtre André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Lo ...

to construct a collection of fountains for the garden, while

Pierre Desgots Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, Le Nôtre's brother-in-law,André Le Nôtre's family tree (in French): would carry out work on the park. At the time, Le Nôtre was undertaking modifications to the gardens of the ''

Château de Meudon Meudon Castle, also known as the Royal Castle of Meudon or Imperial Palace of Meudon, is a French castle located in Meudon in the Hauts-de-Seine department. At the edge of a wooded plateau, the castle offers views of Paris and the Seine, as we ...

'' owned by the '' Grand Dauphin''. Denis Talon died in 1698. The following year, on 4 February 1699, François Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, known as ''le Grand Conti'', bought the estate for the sum of 140,000

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 ...

. The wealthy Prince du sang undertook many modifications, which are thought to have been carried out by Bullet. The Prince had the ''façades'' of the château redesigned and also had a small "''pavillon des bains''" built. By the time of the Prince's death in 1709, the whole estate had been completely updated. The estate remained the property of the

Princes of Conti The title of Prince of Conti (French: ''prince de Conti'') was a French noble title, assumed by a cadet branch of the princely house of Bourbon-Condé. History The title derives its name from Conty, a small town in northern France, c. 35 k ...

until the Revolution of 1789, when it was confiscated as

biens nationaux The biens nationaux were properties confiscated during the French Revolution from the Catholic Church, the monarchy, émigrés, and suspected counter-revolutionaries for "the good of the nation". ''Biens'' means "goods", both in the sense of ...

. Louis François de Bourbon, the grandson of the ''Grand Conti'', lost his beloved wife at the château. Louise Diane d'Orléans was the daughter of Philippe d'Orléans, the former Regent. She died in 1736, at the age of twenty, while giving birth to a stillborn child in 1736. After her death, her husband rarely used the property. When the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * Ab ...

bought the monarchy back to France, the château was sold several times. The 19th century saw the addition of a

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or ba ...

, an

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very larg ...

and of a building similar to the 17th-century "pavillon des bains". During the

, the château was bombed and left to burn. It stood in ruins for over forty years before being demolished in 1910. Later on, the town purchased a small part of the estate which had mostly been sold off in lots. That plot of land was transformed into Issy-les-Moulineaux municipal park ''

Henri Barbusse Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist and a member of the French Communist Party. He was a lifelong friend of Albert Einstein. Life The son of a French father and an English mother, Barbusse was born in Asnièr ...

''. The sculptor Auguste Rodin repurchased the pediment of the garden ''façade'', as well as the ''avant-corps'' columns; he set up these pieces at his property of

Meudon Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...

(Hauts-de-Seine). Most of the site is now the home of the '' Musée Français de la Carte à Jouer'' ("French Playing Card Museum").

Gallery

File:Château d'Issy, 1 Ground Floor.jpg, Ground floor of Issy, c.1699, Bullet File:Château d'Issy, 2 Second Floor.jpg, Second floor of Issy, c.1699, Bullet File:Château D'Issy, 3 Entrance Facade.jpg, Entrance façade, c.1699, Bullet File:Château D'Issy, 4 Garden Facade.jpg, Garden façade, c.1699, Bullet File:Grotte des jardins du château d'Issy 2015.jpg

Notes

References

Monuments historiques et bâtiments protégés d'Issy-les-Moulineaux
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau D'issy Houses completed in 1709 Issy Gardens in Hauts-de-Seine Former buildings and structures in France House of Bourbon-Conti Princes of Conti 1709 establishments in France