Isabelle of France founded an abbey here in 1255. Now before us stands the Ch\u00e2teau de Longchamp. It is a pavilion with a long and fascinating history. The Domaine de Longchamp sits on the site of that old abbey.
Let’s take a step back in time. The abbey was closed in the 18th century. Then in 1794 the buildings were unfortunately destroyed during the Revolution. Only the pigeon loft remained. It was transformed into a crenellated dungeon in 1858.
In 1852 Napoleon III gave the Bois de Boulogne to the city of Paris. The city planted 400000 trees. For fifteen years the Domaine became the residence of the prefect Haussmann. After that the Ch\u00e2teau de Longchamp was left abandoned.
But the story doesn’t end there. In 1926 the perfumer Fran\u00e7ois Coty built the Ch\u00e2teau de Longchamp. From 1954 to 1999 it became the most important French center for research on childhood and its pathologies.
The Ch\u00e2teau de Longchamp as you see it today was built in the mid-19th century. Gabriel Davioud designed it at the request of Baron Haussmann. Later Alfred Chauchard lived here. Then Fran\u00e7ois Coty had it razed with a view to reconstruction in the 1930s. The work was completed after the Second World War. Today the Ch\u00e2teau de Longchamp belongs to the city of Paris.
Haussmann planned the development of the Bois de Boulogne. Napoleon III had just ceded the property to the city of Paris. This included the Longchamp plain. The royal abbey of Longchamp was located on the southern part of the plain. It was destroyed during the Revolution. The construction of the Longchamp racecourse had been approved in 1854.
Haussmann initially intended this residence for the new imperial prince. He was born in 1856. His mother Empress Eug\u00e9nie had the Ch\u00e2teau de Bagatelle as a holiday residence. Haussmann called on his collaborator the architect Gabriel Davioud to build this new pleasure house and its outbuildings. Davioud then delivered a pavilion with two floors plus attics. On each side were two low wings with a terrace. An old tower an old dovecote from the abbey was preserved. It was restored in 1857 giving it a false appearance of a medieval defensive tower.
Haussmann used the Ch\u00e2teau de Longchamp as a summer residence for a dozen years. In 1869 he received the vice-king of Egypt Isma\u00efl Pacha for dinner.
Alfred Chauchard the founder of the Grands Magasins du Louvre rented the ch\u00e2teau for a time. He installed an elevator in the medieval tower. This was probably the first private elevator in France.
Fran\u00e7ois Coty decided to demolish it in order to build a new building. The new building was not finally completed until after the war in the late 1940s.
The city of Paris made it available to the International Children’s Center. This was created in 1949 by the French government and the United Nations. The center was dedicated to studying children’s health problems around the world and to training people interested in them.
In 2015 the town hall entrusted the Ch\u00e2teau de Longchamp and its estate to the GoodPlanet Foundation. The renovation was carried out by Patrick Bouchain for the ch\u00e2teau and by landscape architects for the park.
The Ch\u00e2teau de Longchamp stands as a testament to Parisian elegance. It highlights the importance of preserving our natural heritage for future generations.