As visitors enter the main avenue of the Sceaux estate, they cannot help but notice an architectural dissonance between the main gate and the castle, and for good reason: the estate, which is very old, reached its peak in the 17th century, while the castle dates back to 1862.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, King Louis XIV’s main Minister, acquires the Henri IV-style castle in 1670 and carries out numerous improvements. He made several land acquisitions to expand the estate, bringing it to around 100 hectares and enlarges the castle, whose central section becomes flanked by two pavilions and two long wings.
The ensemble, already outdated at the time of the improvements, betrays Colbert’s concern to avoid repeating Nicolas Fouquet’s mistake at Vaux-le-Vicomte by indulging in a lavish display that might have offended Louis XIV.
When Colbert dies in 1683, the Sceaux estate becomes the property of his son, the Marquess de Seignelay, who has the orangery built and the park considerably expanded, bringing the total area to over 220 hectares.
The gardens are designed by Le Nôtre along two axes: the East-West axis offers a vast perspective facing the castle, while the North-South axis features ponds, waterfalls, and a canal over a kilometer long, reminiscent of the Versailles canal.
Upon the death of the Marquess de Seignelay in 1690 and his wife in 1699, the Sceaux estate is sold to the Duke and Duchess of Maine. The Duke of Maine is the natural son of King Louis XIV and his mistress Madame de Montespan, and the Duchess is the granddaughter of the Grand Condé. They hold a brilliant court at Sceaux, ruled by the Duchess, who founds the Order of the Honey Fly, whose motto is “I am small indeed, but I inflict cruel wounds”.
The Sceaux estate passes to their heirs until the French Revolution. Confiscated as national property in 1793, it is purchased in 1798 by Jean-François Hippolyte Lecomte, a wine merchant who destroys the castle in 1803 to sell the materials.
In 1828, Jean-François Hippolyte Lecomte’s daughter marries Napoléon Mortier, Duke of Trévise, who has a neo-Louis XIII-style castle built on the site of Colbert’s building. Construction is completed in 1862 and the park is carefully redesigned according to Le Nôtre’s design.
The heiress of the Trévise family, Princess Lucinge Cystria of Faucigny, becomes the owner of the Sceaux estate. Unable to maintain the huge estate, she sells it to the Seine department in 1923, thanks to the influence of the mayor of Sceaux, who is determined to safeguard and preserve this historical heritage. To finance this acquisition, the Seine department subdivides a third of the estate, and the rest of the park is redesigned, in a relatively simple manner, according to Le Nôtre’s design.
All this explains the dissonance felt by contemporary visitors. The château, intended to be in the neo-Louis XIII style, clashes with the classicism of the main gate and the French gardens and seems very small compared to the vastness of the park. It must be said that the current building replaces a castle that was originally three times larger. Remaining from the absolutism era are the main gate with its dry moat, its fixed bridge and two guardhouses, the Pavilion of Dawn, the orangery, the stables, the main axes of the park, the Octagon Basin, and the canal.
Maine Room
Oval Room
Main staircase
Neuilly Room
Princes’ Room
Penthièvre Room
The Canal
The Little Castle
The Orangery
The Pavilion of Dawn
June 5, 2026
