[1] Others think that Louis Blouin acquired this property from Léon Bierry, the king's close advisor, who also held the important financial office of contrôleur général des rentes in the Hôtel de Ville.
[2] The GRAHAL study of 2002, which was based on notarized documents found in the National Archives and the Departmental Archives of Versailles, refer to Blouin as the owner of the property only after 1726, later than Louis XIV’s death Prior to that date, the property was occupied by the daughter of Léon Bierry and her husband, named Fresson, who was an attorney serving in the parliament of Versailles.
He loved to surround himself with “everything of distinction in the world of arts and letters.” A visitor to the property in Marly would have encountered prominent figures of the era, including Coysevox, Racine, Boileau, Girardon, and Mignard.
That same year, Rouillé sold the usufruct of the property to Madame de Saint-Martin, whose husband obtained the right to exploit the ice ponds in the surrounding park.
The residence was famed for the hostess's opulent festivities and the distinguished guests who attended them, including Saint-Aubin, who immortalized these gala celebrations in his engraving Le Bal paré.
An anecdote from this period tells of the hunting expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte, then the First Consul, who had the gates of the abandoned park opened so that his company could ride through the chateau's salon in pursuit of a stag.
Ravel's heir sold the property one last time in 1838 to Anne-Elie-Marie de Montmorency-Luxembourg, a distant descendant of the lords of the Montmorency family [fr].
In 1863, “a wanderer, mounted on a donkey that bore him through the woods at will, suddenly had his steed halt at the edge of a broad hollow covered with an abundance of tasty thistles.
A celebrated playwright, he surrounded himself with a circle of performers and artists who flattered him and enthusiastically attended the lavish receptions he hosted in his residence in Marly.
Victorien Sardou also became involved in the daily life of the commune of Marly, but he met his match when he attempted to organize a genuine “counter-revolution.” Despite this setback, he kept his beloved Château des Sphinx.
According to C. Piton, a specialist in the history of Marly-le-Roi, the structure was unchanged between the time of its construction until the reign of Louis XIV, except for a few interior modifications during that king's era.
All agree that the dwelling boasted a “second pavilion in front.” Further enlargement of the Château du Verduron is thought to have occurred under the ownership of the Comtesse de Vassé.
Madame de Villemorien subsequently altered the domain by connecting the Château du Verduron and another of her properties with a covered bridge above the road through the forest.
Finally, she linked the entry pavilion to the main part of the house, creating a space to serve as a library for her apparently extensive collection of books.
[5] Left abandoned and on the brink of collapse by Marie-Joseph Bourgouin, the property was restored by Pierre-Antoine Ravel, who converted it into “a comfortable bourgeois residence.” He apparently added “picturesque” features to the park, including a thatched cottage and a grotto.
The ten granite sphinxes that line the allée leading from the gate to the house were purchased by Sardou from the Sultan's Pavilion in the 1867 Exposition Universelle.
That era's noble materials have been restored, and the building now boasts marbles, gilding, sculpted wood paneling, parquet floors in the manner of Versailles, and fine masonry work.