Outcry in France after famed chateau is transformed into council flats ‘monstrosity’ with timber-cladding field roof
A famed 19th-century chateau has been converted into an ‘eyesore’ block of council flats in France sparking fury among conservationists.
The Chateau du Tournepuits, in Guines near Calais, was built in 1848 for a powerful French landowner and politician, Narcisse Boulanger, and stands impressively in the sweeping countryside.
But after Boulanger died and the chateau was sold on, it was eventually abandoned and left to rot.
Despite hopes of a renovation into a historic house among its neighbours, the chateau has been converted into nine council flats – and is now an ‘eyesore’, neighbours claim.
The ornate roofing has been replaced with blocked grey cladding, and a modern ‘extension’ built at the rear, so that the red and white brick chateau is encroached on by pale timber.
Critics call it a ‘grinding dissonance between the past and present’, and say it is proof of France‘s inability to preserve its history, the Times reported.
It will also serve as social housing and is divided into nine council flats, while the surrounding land which used to be a park has been levelled out into a bare plot.
Louvre curator Nicolas Milovanovic said: ‘The absolute ugliness on the pretext of a social and ecological project is enough to make you cry,’ while French economist Jean Messiha said: ‘It would have been better to tear it down – that would have been more honourable than erecting this eyesore.’
The stunning 19th-century chateau before the ‘renovation’
The chateau after the ‘renovation’ featuring grey cladding and a ‘modern extension’ at the rear
The chateau in Guines, near Calais in northern France, was built in 1848 for a powerful French landowner and politician, but fell into disrepair after his heirs sold it on
The chateau’s owner, a social housing company called La Fonciere Chenelet, had partnered with the French national housing agency to carry out the roughly £2.4million conversion.
The company defended the controversial renovation, describing it as: ‘rehabilitation of derelict and vacant buildings in town centres and their conversion into social housing that is highly energy efficient, low carbon, age-friendly and fully accessible for disabled people.’
Others felt differently, with commenters on social media calling it a ‘cubic monstrosity’, a ‘massacre’, and a ‘cultural betrayal’.
French newspaper Le Figaro, said: ‘France is losing its heritage and its history.’
A large proportion of the roughly 30,000 chateaus in France are privately owned and in danger of collapsing, Adopte un Chateau, a conservation group that helps organise crowdfunding for owners to restore the derelict properties, said.
Julien Lacaze, the head of heritage group Sites et Monuments, told the Times: ‘In Britain, you have the National Trust, which ensures that art and heritage is spread across the country, but that is something we lack in France.’
The former culture minister who resigned to run for the Paris mayoral last month, proposed a ‘French National Trust’ and called for less government money to be spent on established projects like the Louvre, but on a ‘national trust’ instead.
