Castle of Saint-Leu
castle in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, France
The Castle of Saint-Leu (Château de Saint-Leu) was located in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt (Val-d'Oise).
Before the French Revolution, the village of Saint-Leu-la-Forêt had two castles: Château d'en haut, demolished and rebuilt in the mid-17th century (in 1645 by Charles Le Clerc de Lesseville, Advisor to the Grand Council, on the site of the Montmorency Castle); Château d'en bas, built in 1693 for Lorieul de La Noue, King's secretary.
History of the site
Jean-Nicolas Dufort de Cheverny inherits the seigneury of Saint-Leu-la-Forêt from his father, Joseph Pierre Durfort de Saint-Leu, King's Counselor and Master Ordinary at the Court of Auditors. On August 31, 1765, he sold it to Claude-Henri Droin, King's Councillor and President of the Joinville Fair Trade Court.
In 1774, financier Jean-Joseph de Laborde acquired the Château d'en bas from President Droin. He wished to have a residence closer to Paris than his castle at La Ferté-Vidame (he would later acquire the Château de Méréville). He had the castle transformed into an English-style park, with a river running through it out of a large boulder. A small rectangular temple and a wooden bridge over the river, which could be crossed by canoe, embellished the garden.
In 1777, Laborde sold the estate to financier Nicolas Beaujon. In 1780, Beaujon sold it to the Duc de Chartres, the future Philippe Égalité, whom the Comtesse de Genlis, “governor” of her children's education, had persuaded to acquire an estate near Paris where she could stay with the young princes during the summer months to oversee their education.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Castle of Saint-Leu” as castle in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, France. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as castle in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, France. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2970540. Authority coordinates are 49.020, 2.249. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1645, 1693, 1765 and 1774.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Castle of Saint-Leu”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Castle of Saint-Leu primary sources, Castle of Saint-Leu archive and Castle research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Castle of Saint-Leu”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Castle of Saint-Leu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.