Mon-Repos Estate

En un regard

Le château en bref

The grounds of Mon-Repos occupy the centre of a vast landscaped park in eastern Lausanne, which they have shared since 1927 with the Federal Tribunal's palace. The house dates back to the mid-eighteenth century, but it was the financier Vincent Perdonnet (1768–1850), a native of Vevey who had made his fortune in Paris, who gave it its present appearance: after acquiring it in 1817, he had it transformed until 1827 with landscape gardeners, architects and decorators brought in from France and Italy. He added a wing to the north, raised the residence by an attic storey, entirely remodelled the park and had a farm, an orangery (1823, by the Parisian architect A. Leclère) and a mock medieval tower built there. The neoclassical exterior, with its pedimented attic and its porch with black marble columns, had a notable influence on regional neoclassical architecture. Owned by the City of Lausanne since 1910, the house housed the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee from 1922 to 1967; it now serves as a reception venue for the Municipal Council and houses the Benoist collection of antique tapestries. Since 1998, the park has been undergoing restoration aimed at recovering its original spirit.