Reuniting old, new worlds via renovation

In a country where a chateau for sale is hardly a rarity, certain exceptional examples stand out. The Château du Grand-Lucé is one of them. Secluded behind high walls in the Loire Valley of France, the white limestone chateau is a protected national landmark, considered one of the finest examples of 18th century neo-classical style in France. Grand-Lucé was built between 1760 and 1764 by the engineer Mathieu de Bayeux for Jacques III Pineau de Viennay, Baron de Lucé.

His daughter, Louise, inherited the estate. When a fire swept the village in 1781, burning down most of the wooden houses, she welcomed the villagers to Grand-Lucé and paid for rebuilding their destroyed homes in the local stone. Eight years later, the villagers repaid their benefactress by protecting her during the French Revolution. Grand-Lucé was one of the rare chateaus to survive the conflict with its collections complete. It was sold to the Sarthe regional government in 1948. In 1996, the government decided to step in to save the landmark.

Timothy Corrigan, an interior designer based in Los Angeles, was in the midst of renovating his towered and turreted Renaissance chateau near Angers, France, when the news that the renowned estate was for sale proved irresistible. As he walked through the neo-classical rooms, Timothy recalled, he felt immediately at home. And soon he was at home.

Triumphing over commercial rivals, Timothy became the chateau’s first 21st-century private owner, in 2004. If you wonder how the acquisition of a French chateau can change your life, Timothy is the man to ask. In 1996, he gave up advertising to become a designer specialising in historic restoration and living a bicontinental lifestyle between Los Angeles and Paris. From 2007, he has been one of the AD 100, Architectural Digest’s annual Who’s Who list of the decorating profession. On the home front, one chateau soon led to another, and then another.

Refurbishing
The government’s rehabilitation of the estate left the chateau in good structural condition, but most of the interiors of more than 25 rooms had been left untouched since the 1950s. Timothy’s teams used heat guns to melt off centuries of paint — coat over coat — that had obscured the exquisite hand-carved details. Furnishing and decoration came next. “Making rooms with five-metre high ceilings feel cosy was a real creative challenge,” he said referring to 16-foot-high rooms.

He has put the 3,716-square-metre, or 40,000-square-foot, listed landmark chateau, surrounded by 30 walled hectares, or 74 acres, on the market. It is being offered at 10 million euros unfurnished, or at 13 million euros including all furnishings listed in a 1,000-page inventory. The monument commission closely oversees decorative elements, from the paint on the walls to the trees in the park.

From the monumental front gates, a gravel walk leads through the formal garden of grass and clipped yew cones that replaced the cobblestone front courtyard. Stone stairs rise to the front entrance that opens into the entrance hall. A collection of vintage antlers is arrayed on cream-coloured walls in a nod to the estate’s hunting origins. To walk through the residence today is to appreciate Timothy’s ingenuity and diplomatic persuasion.

Brighten up
The designer’s extensive archival research into 18th-century colours at the Carnavalet Museum in Paris won official approval for a considerable transformation. Acres of panelling that were once painted in de rigueur 18th century Trianon Grey now glow in more colourful hues. From the entree, tall double doors lead to the formal dining room and one of Timothy’s wow moments.

It is stunningly painted in a persimmon pink shade chosen to flatter guests’ complexions in flickering candlelight. Antique portraits, including ones of Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie, overlook an antique dining table that seats up to 28 people. Straight ahead from the entry hall, the Grand Salon is a serene, oval room wrapped in boiseries of pale celadon green.

Even on a gray, rainy day, light floods in from its bay of three 22-foot French windows linking the greenery indoors to the gardens below. “If it is beautiful, but not comfortable, it is not successful” is the designer’s motto. Here, the soaring oval space is anchored with symmetrical seating areas of white sofas flanked by two armchairs on each side of the room.

Above the fireplace, two arched interior windows reveal views of Grand-Lucé’s treasure, the exquisite Chinese Salon in the next room. During the day, the owner likes to set up a desk here in his favourite room, where enchanting chinoiserie garden vignettes painted by the 18th century master Jean-Baptiste Pillement cover the walls.

In the evening, when a fire crackles in the fireplace, the salon is a favourite setting for pre-dinner drinks. Continuing along the enfilade, the sumptuous master suite has sun and views south and west. It also includes a luxury master bath and a master dressing room. From the Grand Salon, the same south-facing enfilade runs in the opposite direction through an informal dining room carved from a former boudoir to a new contemporary kitchen with parquet floor, marble-topped island and high stools. There is also a pantry, a den/television room and an apple-green library.

An elevator descends to the garden level. It also serves the ground and first upper floors. On the first upper floor, the large hallway leading to nine bedroom suites is decorated like a sitting room. A wooden staircase leads up to the second upper floor and its five bedroom suites. Four additional bedrooms are unrestored.

The red and black decor of the room Diamantes, with a top hat rakishly decorating the fireplace mantel, was imagined for a dandy. Lucé, a large oval room, decorated in shades of blue, is a favourite of honeymooners. A female English writer — Virginia Woolf, perhaps — was the inspiration for a corner room with an English giltwood mirror, Swedish canopy bed crown and superb garden view. On the lower level are two wine cellars.

Also restored is an orangery and two greenhouses along with the former stables, now converted into a theater. There is a gym and games room adjoining the chateau, while the original chapel, hidden since the Revolution, was rediscovered and also restored. Other outbuildings contain three staff apartments and six garages.

There is parking for an additional 20 cars in a rear courtyard and a helicopter landing pad nearby. The formal gardens were restored in an 18th century design with clipped topiary, interconnected green garden rooms, a fountain, statues and plantations of flowers that bloom from spring to fall, including several rose gardens.

On the lowest terrace, three fountains punctuate the kitchen garden’s squares of decorative and vegetal plantings. Beyond the lake, diagonal rides cut through a historic oak forest where Louis XV’s gift Versailles statues still decorate clearings. Meadows and fields offer the same timeless perspectives of the baron’s design. “Grand-Lucé has the charm of the 18th century,” Timothy said, “but how it works is 21st century.”