Built between 1518 and 1535, the château was commissioned by Jacques Galiot de Genouillac (1465–1546), Grand Squire of France under King François I.

The château was designed as a large quadrangle, 40 metres (130 ft) on each side, flanked by massive round towers at each corner, capped with ogival domes.

The remaining west wing retains its pedimented gateway, which sheltered, in a niche at first floor level, an equestrian statue of Galiot de Genouillac.

The courtyard frontage is decorated with two broad friezes, richly carved with emblems referring to the military achievements of Galiot de Genouillac, and to the legend of Hercules.

Inside, a grand staircase, vaulted on intersecting ribs, leads up to a marble pillar, decorated with "grotesques", which is thought to be the work of Jean Goujon or one of his pupils.