Listing of the Day
Location Loire Valley, France
Price €10.9 million (US$11.4 million)
Legend has it that Jacques III Pineau de Viennay, Baron de Luce, an intendant of Louis XV, was so bowled over by his new home, built by engineer Mathieu de Bayeux between 1760 and 1764, that the first time he saw it he had a cardiac arrest and dropped dead.
Chateau de Luce is still heart-stoppingly beautiful, a fine example of classical, opulent French 18th Century architecture and formal gardens with the unusual benefit of WiFi, heating and 17 bathrooms. These were added by current owner Timothy Corrigan, a Los Angeles-based AD100 interior designer with a love of restoring French manor houses.
He spent $10 million bringing the chateau back to its former glory and some, adding modern U.S. conveniences that blend into the setting. Take the "swimming pool," for example. The building renovations were vetted by officials who warned that no chateau has a pool. So he dug a little deeper into the garden’s reflecting pool and added heated filtered water.
The chateau is in a "state of the art condition," says agent Elizabeth Stribling, the founder of Stribling and Associates who is also well versed in French Chateaux as chairwoman of the French Heritage Society, something she says you "practically never see."
"Inside you think you are in a period residence, but everything works, there’s an ease of living—there are not all these uncomfortable 18th century chairs about, the couches are nice to sit on, though they are upholstered in marvellous fabrics in keeping with the era," she said.‘There is a very formal, magnificent dining room, but you now have a breakfast room off the kitchen. It is a chateau of another epoque that works for today."
More:Live in a French Manor—in New York
Stats
The house is a whopping 40,000 square feet, and its original 20 bedrooms and two bathrooms have been transformed into 15 en-suite rooms with dressing rooms, and two further bathrooms. Amenities include a helicopter landing field, two wine cellars, two greenhouses and an orangery.
Design pedigree
When Mr. Corrigan bought it, the chateau had not been lived in as a home since before World War II, which left him with a big job. "As one of the few chateau in France that was untouched during the French revolution, the chateau boasts all of its original 18th Century wood paneled rooms, parquet wood floors and marble and stone fireplaces [there are 24]," he said.
"The chateau has the most amazing architecture and sense of grandeur in all of the rooms. Unlike many chateaus in France, it was built with entertaining in mind and it has been decorated to achieve a great warmth and sense of comfortable elegance."
Mr. Corrigan, whose clients include Madonna and three royal families, added new slate roofs, electricity, plumbing, new kitchens for the main building and two staff apartments, a complete stripping and refinishing of the original wood paneled rooms and original parquet floors, and eight pairs of new windows. There was further work to restore the original grounds, with new rose gardens installed, an 18th Century fountain and a formal entry courtyard with lawn, topiary and flowers.
More:Click to Tour A French Château With An English-Style Garden
Neighborhood notes
The chateau is in the small village of Grand-Luce, in the pays-de-la-Loire region, between Tours and Le Mans and an hour by train from central Paris or Charles de Gaulle airport.
"I love how close the chateau is to all of the wonderful sites of the Loire Valley," says Mr. Corrigan. "The chateau is located on the edge of a small village but when you enter the gates, you enter a total sanctuary composed of exquisite gardens, woods, and lake. There is the most amazing sense of peace and tranquillity wherever you are on the property."
Agent: Elizabeth Stribling, Stribling and Associates
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