Maison à vendre, 230m², Montluçon

Description

The farmhouse château, a listed building (Monument Historique), is laid out around a large square courtyard bordered by four ranges of buildings. Two wings of service buildings extend the south side and form an open forecourt, reached over a bridge spanning a moat. A square porch pavilion of exposed rubble stone pointed in lime, with a carriage entrance and a wooden pedestrian door, marks the access to the property. The imperial roof has slopes covered alternately in fishscale tiles and flat tiles, with a slate bell-turret above. This entrance evokes the history of the site. Through the pavilion, a keep of exposed rubble stone under Bourbonnais flat tiles comes into view along its axis. The wings of the house repeat the same architectural style, with towers and wooden galleries, open or closed. Stone dormers in the roofs and Burgundy stone surrounds to the doors and openings add to the overall architectural coherence. The house has turrets and bartizans, and a large round tower at its south end houses the chapel. A small bell-turret and a cross top the tower's roof. Around the main house, several outbuildings remain from the former agricultural use of the site: a mill, a sheep shed, a henhouse, a barn, and a kennel. Some of these buildings are now used as a stable and a garage. There is also a riding arena. The courtyard and the areas around the buildings are landscaped with gravel drives, low dry-stone walls, and lawns with potted olive trees and shrubs. The main houseThe main house has a living area of around 230 m² and two separate entrances: one from the inner courtyard, the other on the south side of the property, with vehicle access. The farmhouse château is a former fortified house, altered over the centuries, and still bears traces of its defensive purpose and seigneurial past, in its architecture as in its siting. The ground floor The vestibule has a wall painting inspired by medieval frescoes and showing a royal procession. Its terracotta floor tiles, each decorated at the centre with a fleur-de-lis, link it with the painted decoration. A lavatory adjoins the reception area. A wooden door with linenfold decoration leads from the vestibule to the sitting room, which has parquet laid in the English style and a French-style beamed ceiling. A light-stone fireplace stands at its centre, with a splayed hearth lined with terracotta bricks laid in a chevron pattern. The room opens south onto a large stone terrace covered in wisteria. A studio-style window also connects it with the kitchen, which is fitted around a central island. A study with a library area and a bedroom with a shower room and private storage are further along. A corridor from the kitchen leads to a second bedroom with a shower room and lavatory, and to a laundry room. The attic A staircase leads to the attic level, which remains to be converted.The keepThis building stands over a cellar and occupies the west wing. A ground-level bedroom with a fireplace has been created. It retains its terracotta tiles, French-style beamed ceiling, and wooden interior shutters. A staircase leads to the upper level and a wooden gallery, with views of the site's architecture in the changing light of the day.The lakeThe lake covers around 1 ha and is between 2 m and 2.5 m deep. A small stream that flows into the River Œil feeds the lake, which has been kept free of any fishing for nearly 25 years.The former millThis 72 m² building occupies the west of the property. It lacks its gear mechanism.The stable and kennelA building roofed in interlocking tiles stands in the south of the property. It houses a stable of four looseboxes, a hot-water shower for horses, and an office. A riding arena and a kennel complete the facilities.The guest houseIn the forecourt of the farmhouse château, a former outbuilding has been converted into a guest house. It is built of rendered rubble stone under a flat-tiled roof, with one level and an attic level. It comprises a sitting room with a fitted kitchen, an exposed-beam ceiling, and recent parquet laid in the English style. A bedroom and a shower room complete the house, which has a total area of some 55 m².The sheep shedThis building of over 250 m² borders the first courtyard, in the south of the property.The chapelIn the south of the property, it occupies a tower topped by a bell-turret and retains its altar.The ancillary buildingsThe north wing consists of ancillary buildings totalling over 300 m², which offer various conversion possibilities.A little historyThe fortified farm once depended on the castellany of Murat. It was known first as Saint-Meulx, then as Saint-Meur, until the name Saint-Maur prevailed. It first emerges from the shadows in 14th-century archives. In 1322, Robin de Culan, a donzel, paid homage to the Bourbons, and he is the earliest known occupant of the site. The La Groe family is attested at Saint-Mœurs in 1657 and ceded it in 1663 to Isabelle de Chambon de la Cluette, lady of La Salle. Her husband, François de La Croix, lord of Ponay, was president-treasurer of France at Moulins. In 1686, the lordship passed to Gilbert de Courtais, who was established in the region at La Guerche, Nassigny, La Chassignole, and as far as the keep of La Souche, at Doyet. Saint-Mœurs then passed, through marriages and inheritances, to families close to the Bourbonnais nobility and royal service. In the 18th century, François-Abraham, chevalier and King's musketeer, lord of Lyonne, Montaignet, and Langlard, took possession. He married Marguerite de Rollat in 1757, and the Revolution did not spare him: he was guillotined in 1794. The estate nevertheless survived the upheaval and remained in the hands of old noble families and the local bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Pierre-Philippe Le Vavasseur, marquis de Blangy, received the lordship as the dowry of his wife, Henriette-Euphrasie. Marie-Louise de Cypre, Countess Charles-Ferdinand de Bourbon-Busset, acquired it in 1858. On her death, her daughters transferred it to Félix-François Moussy.