From the Revolution to 1958

Ornaments and decline

The 19th century

A lawsuit, then a great restoration

The Revolution and the early 19th century were a period of decline, during which Gilbert de Veyny’s heirs tore each other apart in an inheritance lawsuit that ended only in 1846. All that time, poorly maintained, the château deteriorated.

Only in the second half of the 19th century was a major restoration undertaken: all the stucco ornaments date from this period — window and door surrounds, dormer scrolls, balcony balustrades, relief friezes over the arches, medallions and busts on the façade. The tower roofs were also remade in medieval fashion, as pepper-pots, whereas the 18th-century builders had given them more elegant lantern domes.

Old postcard: the château's entrance gateway — The entrance portico around 1920

Old postcard: the south façade between its two towers — The south façade around 1920

Old postcard: the north façade — The north façade in 1935

Old postcard: the château in the early 20th century, haystacks in the foreground — The château in the early 20th century

Old photograph of the north wing and its dormers — The north wing

Postcard: the Château de Villemont seen from the west, with its lantern tower — The west side in the early 20th century, postcard « Environs d’Aigueperse ». Departmental archives, 559 Fi 3010

Towards 1958

« Four million to keep the roofs from collapsing »

After the decline of the post-revolutionary decades and the splendour of the 19th century came a second period, if not of neglect, at least of minimal upkeep. Early in 1958 Henri Pourrat wrote, in his book on the châteaux of Auvergne: « It would take four million today to keep the roofs of Villemont from collapsing. » The château was sold at the end of May 1958 by its last owner, a direct descendant of the Veyny. A month later, on the night of 3–4 July, it went up in flames.

The château's roofs and dormers around 1958 — The state of the roofs in 1958

Old aerial view of the château and estate before the fire — Aerial view before the fire

Sources and further reading

Sabine Codet, « Le château de Villemont », Bulletin monumental, vol. 127, no. 2, 1969, p. 157 (read on Persée).
Henri Pourrat, Châteaux en Auvergne, Paris, J. Delmas.
Old postcards: departmental archives, Fi series (559 Fi 3010), and the association’s collection.
French Ministry of Culture, Mérimée database, record PA00092456 « Château de Villemont » (view).