Château de la Cordelière, Gothic Revival castle in Chaource, France

The Château de la Cordelière consists of two separate buildings. The Grande Cordelière, built between 1892 and 1900 for Vicomte Frédéric Chandon de Briailles, is a Gothic Revival structure of red brick with light stone quoins, mullioned windows and a steep slate roof crowned by a pyramidal spire. The Petite Cordelière, begun in 1780 by Nicolas Parent, stands on the same estate. The grounds now belong to a golf club.

The smaller original building was completed in 1780 as a residence for a legal official who was executed during the French Revolution. The larger structure was added about a century later when a champagne family acquired the property.

The two buildings on this estate reflect different social worlds: one belonged to champagne makers, the other to a lawyer from the 1700s. Visitors can see how the same land shifted between families and professions across time.

The estate is part of a golf course and best accessed by arranging a visit in advance or joining organized tours. The flat grounds make it easy to walk between both buildings and explore the surrounding landscape.

The estate's name comes from the plots on which it was built, La Maison Rouge and La Vente des Cordeliers, not from the Cordelière family. The 1957 auction dispersed 2,000 books, armour, oriental porcelain and crystal chandeliers over five days, and 2,000 hectares of woods and ponds went to a Belgian company.