Château de Maisons

Charles Perrault reported its reputation: "The château of Maisons, of which he [Mansart] had made all the buildings and all the gardens, is of such a singular beauty that there is not a curious foreigner who does not go there to see it, as one of the finest things that we have in France.

"[1] Nevertheless, the sole surviving document mentioning Mansart's name is a payment of 20,000 livres from Longueil in 1657, apparently occasioned by the final completion of the château.

A pamphlet with the title La Mansarade accused the architect of having realised, after completing the construction of the first floor, that he had committed an error in the plans and razed everything built so far in order to commence anew.

In 1777, it became the property of King Louis XVI's brother, Charles Philip, count of Artois, who carried out important interior transformations under the direction of his house architect François-Joseph Bélanger.

Starting in 1834, Lafitte proceeded to develop the surrounding park as building lots; he tore down the fine stables to furnish construction materials for the purchasers.

On either side of the avant-cour, Mansart constructed the stables, masterworks of architecture whose monumental character gave a preview of those that would be built at Versailles and Chantilly.

The staircase was of a type that Mansart originated at the Château de Balleroy,[4] in which the central space is left open so that the flights climb the four walls.

On the parade or main floor, the apartment to the right, called the Appartement des Aigles for the Empire style decoration effected by maréchal Lannes in expectation of the visit of Napoleon, is undistinguished.

In the end pavilion is a domed room articulated by therm figures[definition needed], a precursor to the grand salon of Vaux-le-Vicomte.