Orphelinat Saint-Philippe de Meudon, Cultural heritage monument in Meudon, France.
Orphelinat Saint-Philippe de Meudon is a long pale-stone building with a dark steeply pitched roof, dormer windows and rows of rectangular windows, built 1877–1888 by architect Ernest-Eugène Conchon. A central entrance bay carries a statue in a niche, a triangular pediment and a small cupola with a cross; a tall stone spire and a thin antenna rise behind. Wings have arched windows, and a low wall and dark metal fence line the paved road.
Maria Brignole Sale, Duchess of Galliera, founded the orphanage for 300 children after her husband's death; it was built from 1877 to 1888 by architect Ernest-Eugène Conchon on the former Fleury estate, sold to her in 1877 by the Marquise de Plessis-Bellière, and inaugurated on 3 November 1888, weeks before she died. The Brothers of the Christian Schools ran it. In both world wars it served as a military hospital, treating some 7,000 wounded in the First; a war memorial was inaugurated on 23 June 1924. The Fondation des orphelins apprentis d'Auteuil took over management on 1 August 1946.
The name Saint-Philippe refers to the saint, and the institution was run from 1888 by the Frères des Écoles chrétiennes, the congregation to which the duchess entrusted its direction. Since 2004 it has been called the "Village éducatif Saint-Philippe", and it now houses a collège and a horticultural lycée for pupils in difficulty, with a boarding school.
The main entrance is on rue du Père-Brottier, at the Meudon edge of the grounds bordering Clamart. The site is a working school, the Village éducatif Saint-Philippe, so access is restricted and visits must be arranged in advance with an authorised guide. From the street, the long pale-stone facade, its entrance bay and the spire can be seen behind the fence.
Around 7,000 wounded soldiers were treated here during World War I, and an internal war memorial was inaugurated on 23 June 1924. The site also served as a military hospital in World War II.
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