En un regard
Le château en bref
Château du Lain stands in Gestel, near Lorient (Morbihan). In the late sixteenth century the seigneury belonged to the Guyardet family, through marriage with the Lantivy family; of the former manor house, shown on the 1818 cadastral survey, the western outbuildings of the late seventeenth century are said to survive. The estate was sold in 1809 to François Buret, whose daughter had a gatekeeper's house built in 1840. In 1871, Théophile Viollet du Breuil, inspector general of Ponts et Chaussées (the state bridges and roads service), bought it, had a landscaped park laid out from 1875 onwards, and raised a new château on the site of the manor house. The latter consisted of a rendered main block of five bays flanked by two asymmetrical side wings; the L-shaped outbuildings housed living quarters and stables, supplemented by a wash-house and fish ponds. A farm was built around 1920 for the Guyomar family. Ravaged by fire in 1992, the château is now only a ruin, on public property.