Publisher's Synopsis
This intimate tour evokes the lifestyle of eighteenth-century French nobility and provides a lesson in the art and technique of historic house and garden restoration.
The Château de Villette was built in Condécourt outside of Paris at the end of the seventeenth century according to the plans of Louis XIV's architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart and surrounded by luscious formal gardens designed by Le Nôtre. Its magnificent artistic and artisanal heritage has been carefully preserved and restored by the current owners and enhanced by Jacques Garcia's recent renovation.
With its magnificent hexagonal hall, Châteaude Villette boasts the first formal dining room conceived for a French château, complete with carved stone buffets and corner fountains. Other rooms have been enhanced with fabulous silks rewoven in Lyon, and furnished with a world-class collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century furniture and paintings. The gardens, with their shaded bosquets, sculptures, obelisks, and cascading water features have been restored according to their original designs. The privately-owned château was classified as a historical monument in 1942, and has been the scene of numerous films, including The Da Vinci Code.
