Manoir de la Mazeraie
ManorHidden Treasure
Manoir de la Mazeraie, located in Joué-lès-Tours (Indre-et-Loire), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Manor
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Joué-lès-Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.3087, 0.6535
- Mérimée Reference
- PA37000011
Nestling on the outskirts of Tours, the Mazeraie manor house boasts a classical courtyard and a Renaissance fireplace featuring Diana in the bath - a mythological jewel rescued from the Rothière manor house.
© Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia
History
In the heart of the commune of Joué-lès-Tours, just a stone's throw from the Loire Valley, the Manoir de la Mazeraie stands out as a discreet but striking example of Touraine's seigneurial architecture of the 18th century. Far from the grandiloquence of the neighbouring châteaux on the Loire, it is the embodiment of the provincial nobility who were able to combine residential pleasure, farming and decorative refinement in a balance that was as measured as it was elegant. What distinguishes La Mazeraie from so many other regional manor houses is the subtle layering of its different eras. The original layout around a central courtyard flanked by two side courtyards reveals an owner who was keen to combine the noble functions of the dwelling with the economic realities of the farm and the closerie under a single roof. This architecture of practical reason, typical of the first half of the 18th century, was supplemented at the end of the 19th century by an imposing residential pavilion, reflecting an era when bourgeois comfort took precedence over stylistic purity. But the real soul of the manor house is to be found in its east room, where a monumental fireplace dating from 1623, a survivor from the manor house of La Rothière, takes pride of place. Its painted decoration depicting Diana in the bath surprised by Actaeon is an intact fragment of Baroque mythology, a window onto the artistic sensibilities of the Touraine nobility of the 17th century. There are very few residences that preserve such treasures in situ. The visit is intimate by nature, and invites you to take a slow look at the building, searching for the seams between the periods, traces of the vanished upper gallery, and the staircase pavilions that once punctuated the façade. For lovers of architecture and local history, La Mazeraie is as much an investigation as it is a walk.
Architecture
The Mazeraie manor house has a complex layout organised around a central courtyard, the backbone of the estate, flanked to the east by an agricultural courtyard and to the west by a former closerie courtyard. This functional tripartition is typical of 18th-century French manorial architecture, in which the nobility of the robe and the landed bourgeoisie sought to reconcile social representation with the profitability of their land. The main building, sober and classically ordered, was initially extended by a high covered gallery punctuated by two square staircase pavilions, a device that evokes the horseshoe compositions of French classical architecture. At the end of the 19th century, this arrangement was replaced by a bourgeois eclectic-style residential pavilion, creating a contrasting dialogue between the classical rigour of the original dwelling and the more massive volume of the Victorian addition. The interior holds the most precious surprise: in the east room of the dwelling, a monumental fireplace dating from 1623 and originating from the manor house of La Rothière brings together all the decorative refinement of the late Renaissance and early Baroque in Touraine. The hood and mantel retain a painted décor of rare quality depicting Diana in the bath surprised by Actaeon, a scene taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, executed with a warm palette and a mastery of the mythological nude that evokes the workshops of painters active in the Tours region in the early 17th century. The building materials, in keeping with the traditions of the Tours region, feature white tufa and slate, giving the manor house the luminous, soothing palette typical of Loire residences.
Related Figures
Propriétaire bâtisseur de la première moitié du XVIIIe siècle (identité non établie)Commanditaire du manoir de la Rothière (propriétaire de la cheminée de 1623)Propriétaire de la fin du XIXe siècle (auteur de la transformation du pavillon occidental)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Manoir de la Mazeraie located?
Manoir de la Mazeraie is located in Joué-lès-Tours, Indre-et-Loire department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
When was Manoir de la Mazeraie built?
Manoir de la Mazeraie dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Manoir de la Mazeraie open to visitors?
Manoir de la Mazeraie is currently closed to visitors.