It was built in 1654–1660 for the financier Jérôme de Nouveau to the designs of the French architect François Le Vau.

[5] The feudal castle (château féodal) on the site was razed in 1653,[5] and the property sold by Brichanteau to Jérome de Nouveau, Surintendant Général des Postes,[6] who brought in the architect François Le Vau to design the new château.

[8] Jérôme de Nouveau hired Michel [Le] Roy, a sculptor-contractor and master mason from Bourges, to supervise the work.

[5][9] François Le Vau constructed the new building on the foundations of the old[5] and retained the old moat and its defensive wall (fausse braye).

[5] It was connected to two end pavilions by curved façades, similar to what architect François Mansart had done for the Château de Berny [fr] (1623)[7][10] and his grand dessein for the Château de Blois (1635–1638),[7][11] and which François Le Vau's older brother, the architect Louis Le Vau, would use later.