Saint-Cheron, Historical castle in Saint-Chéron, France

The Château de Baville is a Louis XIII-style castle in Saint-Chéron, Essonne, its grounds partly extending into Breuillet and Breux-Jouy. The main building has a central stone block with a pediment, flanked by lower wings ending in projecting pavilions, with white stone quoins framing red brick panels and blue slate roofs. Tall brick chimneys rise on the left, and a lighter stone wing with shuttered windows and a triangular pediment stands on the right.

Michel Villedo built this castle in the 17th century using the Louis XIII architectural style. The structure was later recognized as a protected historical monument in France and continues to preserve its original design today.

The Lamoignon family held Baville until 1791. Guillaume I de Lamoignon, marquis de Basville, counted Racine, La Fontaine and Madame de Sévigné among his friends, and Boileau wrote several works at the château. The left wing, demolished in the early 19th century, held a rich library now kept at the British Museum.

The château stands in the commune of Saint-Chéron, in Essonne, with part of its walled enclosure reaching into Breuillet and Breux-Jouy. The building, its outbuildings and the two walled parks are listed as monuments historiques. Visitors approach across a gravel forecourt facing the brick and stone facade.

The left wing was demolished in the early 19th century and its materials reused to build an orangery behind the right wing. That wing held a rich library, now kept at the British Museum. In 1816 the formal French gardens gave way to English-style grounds, restored at the end of the 19th century, perhaps by Henri and Achille Duchêne.