Château des Brouillards, Pleasure house in Montmartre, Paris, France

Château des Brouillards is an 18th-century pleasure house at 13, rue Girardon, on the corner of place Dalida and allée des Brouillards. The building has two storeys plus lower and upper ground levels, with 300 m² of floor space. Its north facade carries a triangular pediment pierced by an oeil-de-bœuf, and only three levels and the stair serving the first level are visible from that side. A central alley curves in an arc beneath century-old trees.

In 1772 Legrand-Ducamjean, a lawyer at the Parlement de Paris, bought a 7,000 m² plot on the rue des Brouillards holding vines, a farm and the ruined 17th-century Moulin des Brouillards, which had served as a wine press. He had the mill razed and built this pleasure house with outbuildings, then sold everything in 1789, on the eve of the Revolution. Bought in ruins in 1920 by Victor Perrot, it was restored between 1922 and 1926, and later passed to violinist Marius Casadesus.

In 1850 the outbuildings were demolished and replaced by pavilions where Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Kees Van Dongen and Amedeo Modigliani lived. From 1889 Auguste Renoir and Aline Charigot stayed at no. 8 allée des Brouillards, entered through the gate at 13 rue Girardon; their son Jean was born there on 15 September 1894. The actor Bibi-la-Purée sometimes joined the Renoirs' table.

The property stands at 13, rue Girardon, at the corner of place Dalida and allée des Brouillards, and its grounds once reached place Constantin-Pecqueur. The allée des Brouillards has served the site since 1929, and the central drive curves in an arc beneath century-old trees. It is a private residence, so the building is seen from the street and the lane.

The name likely came from the water vapour of nearby springs meeting the cool morning air, together with the two watering troughs beside the site. The plot also held a 17th-century mill, the Moulin des Brouillards, in ruins and used as a wine press when the lawyer Legrand-Ducamjean bought it in 1772 and had it demolished.