Restored Château With Some of France’s Largest Private Greenhouses
Set above the Somme River near Abbeville, the 18th-century pink-brick residence rises on a series of terraces with century-old greenhouses—each nearly 100 metres (328 feet) long—among the largest in private ownership in France.
Commissioned in 1733 by Pierre de Buissy and designed by Charles-Étienne Briseux, the Paris architect behind L’Art de bâtir les maisons de campagne (1743), the château embodies his ideas of symmetry, proportion, and light.
Stylistically, it shares the harmonious proportions of the Hôtel de Biron in Paris—now the Musée Rodin—though its pink-brick façades are typical of the classical architecture of northern France. The château has also been nicknamed Le Petit Versailles for its aristocratic history and Rococo interiors, decorated by Versailles painter Jean-Baptiste Huet.
The main residence spans approximately 1,500 m² (16,145 ft²) across three levels, centred on an oval stone hall with black-and-white cabochon flooring and antique-style pilasters. On the ground floor, a dining room features painted wood panels and two oil paintings on the theme of love by Huet (1745–1811), whose works now hang in the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Adjoining rooms include a gilded salon with a marble fireplace and the distinctive Zodiac Salon—illuminated with natural light from three walls of windows, and decorated with twelve paintings representing the signs of the zodiac.
The upper floors contain nine bedrooms along with several salons, studies, and a library, all connected by a wrought-iron staircase painted in faux marble. Including the guest accommodations within the outbuildings, the estate offers a total of 14 bedrooms.
The outbuildings, designed with the same classical symmetry, include a former orangery converted into a “museum room,” a caretaker’s house, barn, dovecote, stable, and an independent guest house.
Set within 18 hectares (44 acres) of enclosed parkland, the estate includes formal gardens, a five-hectare (12-acre) pond, and nearly one kilometre (0.6 miles) of river frontage along the Somme. The restored 19th-century greenhouses extend along the terraces and shelter luxuriant vegetation year-round.
Classified in its entirety as a Monument Historique since 1944—with façades, roofs, and outbuildings later added in 2003—the château remains one of northern France’s most complete and well-preserved 18th-century estates.
The property lies less than two hours from Paris, 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the coast, with direct access to Abbeville and Amiens by motorway or train.
All photos courtesy of the listing agency.
