History

In 1900, Baroness Jeanne Léonino de Rothschild began the construction of the Chateau de Montvillargenne, very near the chateau owned by her mother. To honour her family name, Jeanne had the coat of arms of the Léoninos – still visible today – carved on the facade, along with that of the Rothschilds, which has since disappeared.

The architecture of the chateau is a successful combination of regional and foreign styles such as Norman half-timbering, British windows, roofs from Wurtemburg and balconies in the style of the Bearn region.

Some years after Jeanne’s demise in 1929, the chateau became the World War II headquarters of German troops. The West Wing, destroyed by Allied bombing, was rebuilt by the Mother Superior of the nuns of the Sacred-Heart, who transformed the chateau into a convent for novitiates. After the convent closed in 1969, the building housed a training centre for the arts.

The Chateau de Montvillargenne became a chateau hotel & restaurant in 1985.