ARCHITECTURE

Its French-style sloping roofs, bull’s eye skylights and tall chimneys are perfectly characteristic of the Louis XIII style in which harmony and the balance of sizes prevail. The contrasting materials – sandstone, brick, slate – are typical of the châteaux in the Pays de Caux which led then to the classicism of the Grand Siècle (17th century). The windows, now embellished with salient keystones, began to be larger. They became more so when the style of Mesnil Geoffroy led the fashion in 1746. The feature of the sandstone is bossage : this refinement, which seems nothing too special, was already a technical achievement, as sandstone when extracted is subjected to a chemical reaction with the ambiant air which hardens it to its maximum. Thus the craftsmen have no more than four hours to even sculpt a block of it. Few châteaux have such examples of this. Under the Regency the main building was extended to include outbuildings. The lines softened and the windows became arched. This handsome building is located in a park designed in the classical French style by Collinot, nephew of Le Nôtre,  with a courtyard and voluted portcullises.