Château de Neuville-sur-Oise: A Historic Estate on the Oise
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.3
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page14 sections
History
Château de Neuville-sur-Oise is a historic estate in France whose story spans seven centuries along the banks of the Oise. Its surviving history is closely connected with the former seigneurie, a territorial lordship under the feudal system, and with the seventeenth-century construction of its central building and wings between 1640 and 1654.
The seigneurie and seventeenth-century château
The seigneurie first belonged to the Deliès family of Pontoise, who were described as descendants of the Valois, the French royal dynasty that ruled from 1328 to 1589. It later passed to the barons of Conflans. Under Charles de la Grange, baron of Conflans and father of Anne de La Grange-Trianon, the lordship acquired greater importance.
Charles de la Grange commissioned the château’s central body and two wings between 1640 and 1654. These works established the principal form of the estate that later owners altered and maintained.
Mercy-Argenteau and the Revolution
In 1775, Charles de la Grange’s descendants sold the estate to Florimond Claude, comte de Mercy-Argenteau. An Austrian diplomat, Mercy-Argenteau served as Austria’s ambassador in France during the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, and was responsible for monitoring Marie-Antoinette.
During the French Revolution, the upheaval that ended France’s pre-Revolutionary monarchy and its institutions, Mercy-Argenteau sold the estate to a merchant named Picquefeu. Seeking public favor, Picquefeu ordered the estate’s registers and feudal titles to be burned.
The Cornudet des Chomettes family
The Cornudet des Chomettes family purchased the property in May 1822 and settled at the château. A wealthy family of the Empire period, they were linked by marriage to the Vanlerberghe, La Redorte, and Suchet d’Albuferat families and took an active part in politics.
The family carried out extensive alterations, improvements, and landscaping. Their work included changes to the roof, façades, woodwork, and windows. Joseph Alfred Cornudet des Chomettes, the last member of this short-lived lineage, had three daughters with Jeanne de Villeneuve Bargemon. They married the marquis de Chabrillan, the marquis de Saint-Chaman, and the baron Petit de Beauverger. The marquis de Saint-Chaman was killed during the First World War.
Public acquisition and later history
Bertrand de La Poëze d’Harambure, husband of Jeanne de Chabrillan, became the château’s owner in 1960. The property then covered 130 hectares of farmland. From 1959, he served as mayor of Neuville-sur-Oise and was among the local politicians who encouraged the development of the Cergy-Pontoise new town.
During his municipal terms, he oversaw construction of the village school and donated more than 5,000 square metres for the village’s central square. He was gradually expropriated for the new town. When plans were made in 1989 for a motorway in front of the château and a wastewater-treatment plant, he compelled the Cergy-Pontoise public authority to purchase the entire property.
After transferring the château, Bertrand de La Poëze d’Harambure renovated historic houses in the village. His descendants remained connected with Neuville through the family vault in the village cemetery. Following the public authority’s acquisition in 1989, the château was abandoned, vandalized, and left in ruin. In 2001, mayor Jacques Feyte found a plan to install a retirement centre there in cooperation with the Epinomis group.
Archives and protected status
The estate’s furnishings were removed before the property was sold to the Cergy-Pontoise public authority. The park statues were transferred to the Quai Voltaire in Paris, some furniture was taken to the imperial castle of Artstetten in Austria, and the remaining furniture and decorative objects were sold at an auction held on site.
The château’s archives were placed in a private deposit at the Val-d’Oise Departmental Archives. They include 30 cartons concerning the early history of the château and 190 cartons concerning the estate. Together, the collection covers the former seigneurie, the institutions of the Ancien Régime, estate management, and the private life of aristocratic families.
Château de Neuville-sur-Oise has been listed as a French historic monument since 1952. The protection includes the eighteenth-century pavilion, its base, and its balustrade.
Remains
The château’s architectural layout is formed by a central body flanked by two wings, with additional features distributed through the former grounds and service areas. The seventeenth-century building was later accompanied by an eighteenth-century pavilion, a formal garden, a named garden structure, estate commons, and elements of the former entrance.
Main château and protected pavilion
Central body and wings
The central body and two wings were constructed between 1640 and 1654. They remain the defining architectural arrangement of the château and express the building campaign commissioned by Charles de la Grange.
Eighteenth-century pavilion
An eighteenth-century pavilion forms a distinct component of the estate. Its base and balustrade are included with it among the protected elements of the historic monument listing.
Gardens and estate buildings
Grand parterre
The former grounds included a grand parterre, a formal ornamental garden laid out in patterned beds. Eighteenth-century reconstructions show both the parterre and a view toward it from a lateral avenue.
Pavillon d’Amour
The former park contains the Pavillon d’Amour, or Love Pavilion, a garden pavilion identified by that name.
Colombier and entrance grille
The estate’s former commons included a colombier, or dovecote, a building constructed to house pigeons. One of the two pillars from the former entrance grille is located on Rue du Pont.
