Château de Ferrières, Renaissance Revival castle in Ferrières-en-Brie, France
Château de Ferrières is a Neo-Renaissance castle built 1855–1859 for Baron James de Rothschild, with square corner towers and a central tower of three tiers of arched windows. Its 37-metre-long, 18-metre-high central hall is roofed by a full glass skylight, and the interior atlas columns and caryatids were sculpted by Charles Cordier.
James de Rothschild bought the estate in 1829 from the heirs of Joseph Fouché, Napoleon's police minister, and had Joseph Paxton build the present château between 1855 and 1859, modelled on Mentmore Towers. It was inaugurated on 16 December 1862 with a gala attended by Napoleon III. In September 1870, during the siege of Paris, Bismarck and Jules Favre met here; the Germans seized the château again in World War II and looted its art collections.
The château's name comes from the village of Ferrières-en-Brie, and its interiors follow the Goût Rothschild, a style of dense ornament and mixed historical references. The 1972 Surrealist Ball, held for the centenary of Marcel Proust's birth, had Yves Saint Laurent design dresses and drew guests such as Salvador Dalí and Audrey Hepburn. Since 2015 the building has housed the École Ferrières, a school of gastronomy, hospitality and luxury.
Tours through the main rooms are available, and you can walk around the grounds to appreciate the architecture from outside. The location is accessible by public transportation or car from Paris, with parking available on site.
The original kitchen was placed in a separate building connected by an underground passage rather than included in the main structure. This unusual arrangement kept cooking odors away from the living spaces where guests were entertained.
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