Château de la Motte Fénelon

En un regard

Le château en bref

In Cambrai, the Château de la Motte Fénelon is a mid-nineteenth-century residence designed by a major figure of architecture: Jacques Ignace Hittorff, the architect of the Gare du Nord in Paris. It was built around 1850 for the industrialist Alphonse Brabant de Leau, who owned the estate from 1844 to 1881. As the site was marshy, the building rests on oak piles. The ground floor is treated in rustic rustication and pierced with round-arched openings; white Creil stone dominates the elevations, while grey Solesmes stone is reserved for the vaulted basements. A wooded park of eight hectares surrounds it. Spared in 1870, the château was occupied by the German army during the First World War, which fitted out a blockhouse in the cellars; it was then severely damaged during the Second World War and left abandoned. Taken over in 1962 by a hotel group, it has since 1975 borne the name Motte Fénelon and houses a hotel, a restaurant and seminar facilities.