Château de Champs-sur-Marne

About this place

The Château de Champs-sur-Marne is a neoclassical château in Champs-sur-Marne, France. It was built in its present form for the treasurer Charles Renouard de la Touane in 1699 by Pierre Bullet, architecte du roi. After the first proprietor's bankruptcy, another financier, Paul Poisson de Bourvalais, took up the project. Jean-Baptiste Bullet de Chamblain, the son of Pierre Bullet, finished Champs in 1706. Ten years later, Paul Poisson was in the Bastille on charges of embezzlement and the château was seized by the Crown. In 1718, it was sold to the princesse de Conti, natural daughter of King Louis XIV and his first official mistress, Louise de La Vallière. Look at the entrances, walls and surrounding terrain together. Their relationship helps explain how the site controlled movement and protected its occupants, while later alterations can reveal the shift from military stronghold to residence or monument.