En un regard
Le château en bref
In the southern districts of Marseille, at the foot of the hills leading to the Calanques, the Château Pastré is the heart of a vast estate now turned into a public park. The wealthy shipowner Eugène Pastré and his wife Céline assembled the property between 1836 and 1853, then had the bastide built, inaugurated in 1862.
The plans are the work of the Parisian architect Jean-Charles Danjoy, who reinterpreted the Louis XIII style over three storeys: the façade combines Marseille brick with pale Arles stone, and large windows open the rooms wide onto the park.
The site entered history during the Second World War. Countess Lily Pastré opened her doors there to some forty artists and musicians threatened by the Occupation, among them Pablo Casals, Josephine Baker and the composer Norbert Glanzberg. The City of Marseille acquired the estate in stages between 1966 and 1987; the château subsequently housed the Musée de la Faïence, amid the avenues of the Pastré country estate.