Manoir de la Ville-Roger
ManorHidden Treasure
Manoir de la Ville-Roger, located in Fréhel (Département 22), 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
- Fréhel, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.6360, -2.3550
- Mérimée Reference
- PA22000025
At the gateway to the Emerald Coast, Manoir de la Ville-Roger combines the austere elegance of 18th-century Malouinières with a Renaissance chapel and picturesque parkland.
History
Nestling in the hedged farmlands of Cap Fréhel, in the Côtes-d'Armor region, Manoir de la Ville-Roger is a harmonious blend of several centuries of seigneurial life. Far from the grandiloquence of the great aristocratic residences, it embodies Breton domestic architecture that combines sobriety on the facade and refinement inside - a balance characteristic of the bourgeois and noble residences of the Malouin region. What distinguishes the Ville-Roger at first glance is precisely this stratification of time visible in the stonework. There are three main periods: a chapel whose stones date back to the last years of the 16th century, a main dwelling built in 1735 in the tradition of the malouinières - the residences of shipowners and privateers that surround Saint-Malo - and outbuildings that were extensively remodelled in the 19th century. The whole forms a coherent estate, with each building interacting with the others without contradicting each other. The interior is full of surprises for lovers of old-style décor. Although the nineteenth century redesigned almost all the rooms to suit its tastes, two areas have survived this wave of reorganisation: the grand western drawing room, with its Regency-period panelling and proportions, and the monumental staircase, whose forged banister and flights of steps bear witness to the skills of Malouin craftsmen in the early eighteenth century. The park extends this open-air story. The remains of the old vegetable garden, carefully marked out, and the stone pond are reminders that the estate was once a self-sufficient unit. The old dovecote, now gone, is no more than a reminder, but its very absence invites us to imagine what it was like to live on such a prosperous Breton country estate. The attentive walker will see in every corner of the garden the landscape ambitions of an owner concerned with order and representation.
Architecture
The Manoir de la Ville-Roger comprises three distinct entities that together define the architectural vocabulary of the estate. The main dwelling, built in 1735, is unmistakably of the malouinière type: a squat, well-balanced rectangular building with a grey granite facade featuring regularly arranged spans of mullioned windows. The hipped roof, covered in Breton slate, contributes to the imposing but unostentatious character of the building, whose sober monumentality evokes bourgeois success rather than aristocratic magnificence. The chapel, which is around one hundred and thirty-five years older, adopts a late Gothic and pre-Classical architectural style, faithful to Breton rural religious production of the late 16th century. Its modest proportions and finely coursed ashlar reveal the work of local craftsmen skilled in the art of working with granite. Inside, the two preserved eighteenth-century rooms - the large west drawing room with its painted wood panelling and the staircase with its wrought iron banister - bear witness to the acute sense of spatial composition and mastery of ornamental detail characteristic of the Regency-Louis XV style. The 19th-century outbuildings, functional and sober, close off the courtyard and delimit the domestic space of the estate without disrupting the overall harmony. Lastly, the park features a stone pond and the remnants of a kitchen garden, restoring the rational organisation of a rural estate in the modern era.
Related Figures
Famille propriétaire du manoir au XVIIIe siècle (commanditaire du logis de 1735, identité précise non établie)Fondateur de la chapelle seigneuriale (vers 1600, noble local de la région de Fréhel)Propriétaires du XIXe siècle (responsables de la campagne de réaménagement intérieur et de la reconstruction des dépendances)
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Manoir de la Ville-Roger located?
Manoir de la Ville-Roger is located in Fréhel, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Manoir de la Ville-Roger built?
Manoir de la Ville-Roger dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Manoir de la Ville-Roger open to visitors?
Manoir de la Ville-Roger is currently closed to visitors.