Château de la Piscine

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de la Piscine is a Montpellier folly, a pleasure residence built in the second half of the eighteenth century at 129 avenue de Lodève, in Montpellier. It stands on the site of an earlier farmstead, La Peyssine, attested as early as 1435; the present name is a corruption of that designation. The château was rebuilt around 1770–1771 for a member of the Belleval family, president of the Cour des comptes, aides et finances de Montpellier, by the architect Jean Antoine Giral, who was also the author of the perspective of the Peyrou. The north façade opens onto a court of honour, while the south façade overlooks a formal French-style garden with a jet-d'eau basin, statues and monumental urns. The Belleval family kept the estate until 1817; in 1814, Élisa Bacciochi, sister of Napoleon I, stayed there for three weeks. The collector Alfred Chaber acquired it at the end of the nineteenth century, and his descendants still own it. The château and its park are protected as a monument historique. As a private property, it is open to the public only on occasions such as the European Heritage Days, and its spaces are rented out for receptions.