En un regard
Le château en bref
In the Caillols district, to the east of Marseille, the Château de la Mirabelle crowns the high point of a municipal park of about two hectares, planted with centuries-old chestnut trees. It was built around 1894 for the brothers Rémy and Henri Long, oil-cake merchants, the residues of oilseeds in which Marseille then did a large trade. The Longs kept the property until 1936, when Roger Cahier bought it, before it passed to a certain M. Billaud. Since 1975, the château and its park have belonged to the City of Marseille. The building, on three storeys, is flanked by a tower; a monumental fireplace occupies the ground floor. On the façade, a coat of arms decorated with a bee bears the Latin motto Sponte favos, "the honeycombs spontaneously". The château has housed an urban ecology centre and then a community activities centre; it now hosts services of the local town hall and is not open to the public, unlike the park.