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A Brief History from Hermine Demoriane

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"This old house has been in the family since 1758, when it was bought by our ancestors as the ruin of a farm called Maison Doisy'

Since then it has gone though a number of transformations to become the Château de Sacy at the turn of the 19th century, when the farm buildings were reduced or demolished, a pigeonier Thermidor built (in 1850), and orchards round the house gave way to a 'parc à l’anglaise', which subsists to this day.

Before the Revolution, a Gabrielle de La Mothe-Houdancourt was forced to sell the château she owned in Sacy to pay for the gamblings debts of her husband. Our family bought it at auction, yet preferred to live at our present house, which had all the mod cons at the time, such as a well. They simply took what they liked from the original château, 500 meters away, and transported its Louis XlV balustrade to the front of the house. What overlapped was recycled into two stone benches. Other features of the house also came from the château, such as a cast iron of Les Travaux d’Hercules in the kitchen, where Hercules is seen spinning wool, as well as several fireplaces such as an overmantel in the first floor bathroom exhibiting pre-revolution spirit, with a ménage-à-trois in the making. After lunch outside on a beautiful day, the husband has fallen asleep at table, while the wife sitting opposite lends an ear to the bellâtre (pretty boy) dressed in red, who has kneeled down 'pour conter fleurette' (flirt). see photo.

Another transformation was made by great-uncle Henri Deneufbourg, my grandmother’s brother. Upon his return from a career in the colonies – Madagascar as well as China, Syria and Togo, he had planned to practise medicine in what is now my office. He had a door onto the back garden installed, so that patients could exit discreetly. But he died of a heart attack in Paris in 1940 aged 62 before he’d even started. The holes drilled into the stone for his copper plate remain at the front gate, though the plate has long gone.

 

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©2023 by Château De Saçy.

Proudly created with photograohy mostly by Alona Samarska

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