Maison dite Les Charmettes, anciennement de la Pinsonnereye, located in Juigné-sur-Loire (Maine-et-Loire), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Nichée dans le Val de Loire, Les Charmettes – anciennement de la Pinsonnereye – est une demeure bourgeoise des XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles, alliance subtile du classicisme angevin et d'un art de vivre à la française, inscrite aux Monuments Historiques.
In the heart of Juigné-sur-Loire, a wine-growing village on the south bank of the Loire between Angers and Saumur, Les Charmettes is distinguished by the aristocratic discretion that characterises the best bourgeois residences in the Anjou Valley. Far from the ostentation of the great seigneurial residences, it offers the attentive visitor a rare and intact testimony to the provincial art of building in the classical centuries, where moderation and refinement take precedence over demonstration. What makes this residence so special is precisely its double face: a seventeenth-century main building, severe and well-balanced in its proportions, to which the following century added some typically Anjou decorative softenings - moulded bay frames, white tufa stone quoins and a lightly hipped roof. The architectural stratigraphy visible on the façade makes Les Charmettes a living document of the evolution of tastes between the Grand Siècle and the Enlightenment. The visitor experience is intimate and contemplative. You'll discover a residence on a human scale, where the rooms respond to a meticulous interior layout inherited from French classicism. The ornamental details - ironwork, woodwork, tufa fireplaces - reveal the attention paid to comfort and elegance by the cultured owners, who were well aware of the architectural trends of their time. The natural setting enhances the charm of the place. Juigné-sur-Loire enjoys a mild microclimate, ideal for the well-tended gardens that traditionally surround this type of middle-class Loire house. Pruned arbours, orchards and trellises evoke the art of pleasure gardening that undoubtedly gave Les Charmettes its name. The nearby Loire, with its islands of golden sand and changing light, provides a painterly backdrop. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1965, the residence represents a valuable milestone in our knowledge of Anjou's domestic heritage, often overshadowed by the region's great fortresses and royal châteaux. Enthusiasts of civil architecture, lovers of vernacular heritage and photographers in search of soft light will find here a subject of sober and unforgettable elegance.
Les Charmettes is in the tradition of the Anjou mansions of provincial classicism, characterised by a rigorous balance between functional sobriety and decorative refinement. The main building, constructed in the 17th century, has a compact rectangular floor plan, built over two storeys and covered by a hipped roof whose steep slope still betrays the influence of late medieval forms. The dominant masonry material is Loire tuffeau - a fine, white limestone that is easy to work and ages gracefully - in keeping with the centuries-old building tradition of the Loire Valley. The facade is sober in its composition, revealing a concern for classical symmetry: the bays of windows are arranged regularly on either side of a central axis formed by the entrance portal. The moulded tufa stone window surrounds, which were enhanced during the 18th-century campaign, are elegant without being ostentatious. The corner quoins with their alternating rustications give visual structure to the elevations, demonstrating a mastery of classical architectural codes. The attics, which are probably pierced by pedimented or bracketed dormers, are part of the dialogue between the austere 17th century and the more ornate 18th century. Inside, the layout follows the model of the classical French house: a succession of reception rooms on the ground floor, bedrooms upstairs, with a tufa or wooden staircase forming the hub of the circulation. Mantelpieces with moulded mantels, painted panelling and woodwork are the main decorative features of an interior designed for enlightened bourgeois comfort. The whole reveals a coherent building, whose two construction campaigns interact harmoniously rather than contradicting each other.
Maison dite Les Charmettes, anciennement de la Pinsonnereye is located in Juigné-sur-Loire, Maine-et-Loire department, Pays de la Loire region, France.
Maison dite Les Charmettes, anciennement de la Pinsonnereye dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Maison dite Les Charmettes, anciennement de la Pinsonnereye is currently closed to visitors.
