luxury listed houses for sale International

A 15th-century house listed as a historical monument with a timber-framed facade of masterfully carved beams, nestled in the historical heart of Blois, opposite the city’s cathedral. The centuries-old house – “La Maison des Acrobates” – is listed as a historical monument. It is doubtless the oldest civil dwelling that still stands in the heart of Blois. It combines timber-framed architecture with expressive sculptures and subtle symbolism. Its remarkable facade of wooden beams with cob filler and brick is typical of the 15th century. There is a ground floor, two upstairs floors with corbelling and a third floor in the roof space. A spiral staircase links the levels together. Apart from the top floor, each level is taken up by a single room. On the ground floor, there is, on one side, a large front window – the token of a former shop here. And on the other side, there are two studded wooden entrance doors: one leads straight to the house and the other one leads to a corridor that takes you to the neighbouring house at the back. Small-paned casement windows, probably enlarged in the 18th or 19th century, bring natural light into the upstairs floors. On the third floor, two gabled dormers frame a hipped dormer, which is bigger, upon a slate roof. The back windows look out at the court of a neighbouring townhouse.

The advertiser did not provide an english description for this listing.

The advertiser did not provide an english description for this listing.

A 14th-century collegiate church listed as a historical monument, with an apartment, in 1.3-hectare grounds, in Burgundy, at the gateway to the Auxois region, at the top of a hill. This collegiate church boasts a dominant position with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. It is encircled by grounds of more than 1 hectare and is far from any neighbours, apart from Thil Castle, built in the 12th century by Jean II, lord of Thil and a constable of the Duchy of Burgundy. By a deed dated 10th March 1340, he founded the current collegiate church. The edifice was built between 1341 and 1344. It was consecrated on 12th August 1344 by the bishop of Autun, under the patronage of the Trinity of the Virgin Mary. This two-storey collegiate church is made of Auxois stone in the shape of a Roman cross, boasting a single nave with three bays, from which a two-bay radiating chapel extends to the east, and crossed by a transept with two protruding arms. Two chapels open onto the northern and southern arms of the transept. To the west, the bell tower stands above the entrance to the edifice, adorned with four pointed-arch tori resting on small columns with foliage decorated capitals. The gables of the northern and southern arms of the transept as well as the remains of the drip stone on the bell tower allude to the former steep roof made of flat tiles then of lava rock that was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1893. A waterproof cover was installed in 1926 on the extrados of the vault to protect the building from water damage. Solid buttresses bear the outward force of the vaults and are more noticeable on the southern façade where they also supported the weight of the now disappeared entrance porch’s roof structure. Modillon cornices underline the levelling off of the roofs. There are a reduced number of openings: one small, pointed arch opening per bay and a triple one on the flat radiating chapel. Arrow windows punctuate each bay from the former rampart walk and, as with certain elements on the bell tower, point to the church’s military and defensive nature. The four-storey, square bell tower, supported at each corner by projecting corner buttresses, is topped by a low-slung, hipped roof made of flat tiles. Only the top floor opens onto all of the building’s faces, via two ribbed windows separated by a pilaster topped by a protruding paved gutter. The openings boast a horizontal mullion and are flanked by four sculpted gargoyles.

A listed 17th-century house with guesthouses and a garden designed by the famous landscape architect Jacques Wirtz, 10 minutes from Normandy's Côte d'Albâtre coastline. Just outside the village, a broad wooden gate and paved drive lead to a vast space. Two guesthouses and a garage stand on one side. The main dwelling and its extension stand on the other side. The grand house is typical of noble Norman dwellings from the mid-17th century. South-facing and rectangular in shape, it has a ground floor, a first floor and a second floor in the tall roof space. The building is crowned with a hipped slate roof with six dormers. The elevations are made of brick. Red brickwork forms the quoins, cornices and window and door surrounds. The facade has five bays. On one side, there is a 19th-century brickwork extension. It has a two-level section with a three-slope roof, followed by a single-storey wing with a roof space. This wing houses a swimming pool. The garden was designed by the famous Belgian landscape architect Jacques Wirtz in the early 2000s. Wirtz is known for his work on two Parisian gardens: the Jardin du Carrousel garden in front of the Louvre Museum and the garden of the Élysée Palace. The property’s garden extends beyond the buildings, which it links together with paved paths, some of which are shaded. This magnificent outdoor space offers striking views.

An 18th century listed private mansion, wooded parkland, lodges and outbuildings, in the historic centre of a Burgundy town. The private mansion stands in a tree-lined square. A double carriage entrance opens onto a paved passageway covered with an antique carpet. The passageway leads to an inner courtyard, flanked by the two wings of the main dwelling and enclosed by an elegant listed wrought iron gate leading to the parkland. Planted with trees and flowers, it is criss-crossed by well-designed paths lined with stone benches and ancient statues, hidden in the lush vegetation. A stone well backs onto the property, which also boasts a heated swimming pool and two lodges with restored facades. Slightly set back, a timber-framed house and its greenhouse were once the caretaker's lodge.

Between Bordeaux and Toulouse, just 10 minutes from a charming Gers town, there is a listed medieval tower, restored, along with its dwelling. A small winding road through the fields leads to a hamlet of just a few souls. The medieval tower of the property, which stands out from the landscape, is located at the entrance of the group of houses, away from view with no neighboring properties. The plot, where the two buildings face each other, overlooks cultivated land where the colors change with the seasons. Protected by a stone wall, reminiscent of the old fortified enclosure, and a tall porch adorned with a wrought iron gate, the dwelling is shielded from prying eyes. Along the enclosure, a grassy and shaded area allows for vehicle parking. The tower, built on a nearly square plan, overlooks a park planted with trees, which is closed off by a small gate on the left side of the main entrance. Perpendicular to the enclosing wall, the stone dwelling is built on a rectangular plan. It is elevated over two levels under a final floor that features a sloping ceiling, covered with a tiled roof, highlighted by three rows of eaves. A large awning is leaned against the south side. Accessible from the garden via a porch that leads down a few steps to the space below, an imposing wooden gate communicates with a passageway at the back of the house. The landscaped garden, which stretches in front of the house and connects to the tower, is planted with various species, a covered well and low walls provide separation from the lower part of the land.This description has been automatically translated from French.

A 16th-century half-timbered house listed as a historic monument in the historic centre of Lannion . The residence is situated in a shopping street, within the town's old fortifications, which still include around 30 half-timbered houses. Other timber-framed houses line the street on either side, as far as the market square. The plots of land are narrow, so the architecture was designed to allow as many merchants as possible to have a storefront. The house has a slate gable roof. The three-storey building comprises a shop on the ground floor and a large three-bedroom flat on the upper floors. The slightly pronounced corbelling is anchored in granite masonry walls. The frame is wood, with vertical and horizontal sections combined with framework. The timber frames are short and mark the height of each storey. Decorations are still visible on the vertical sections at either end of the building. They are marked by a short carved wooden panel topped with a lozenge. The wood is painted ochre and red. Lastly, a large three-panel window with medium-sized panes and wooden frames allows plenty of natural light into the first two floors.

A 15th and 16th-century manor house, listed as a Historical Monument, its outbuildings and 12-hectare grounds in the Mayenne department. From the village, a small road leads to a private driveway up to the entrance porch, which opens onto a main courtyard. The driveway also extends behind the manor and provides access to two outbuildings located to the west. A third outbuilding encloses the courtyard to the east, near the entrance. Pastures spread out on either side of the driveway. One of them is continued to the north with the first part of an oak grove, which then unfolds towards the west. The manor’s courtyard is extended by a garden, which overlooks a small river. Two other pastures located on the other side are accessible via a bridge. Constructed partially over a basement level, the manor contains four floors, including two built into the roof space. Made out of stone and rubble and coated in plaster, its edifice is crowned with gabled slate roofs and stone rims, punctuated by dormer windows topped with sculpted ornaments. Stone mullioned windows cadence the façade and a double flight staircase leads to the front door. In the back, the body of the main building is flanked by a square tower with a tented roof, a staircase tower and a round tower with a pointed roof. To the east, a small two-storey, hipped slate roof building is attached to the square tower. A cellar, accessible from the outside, is located under a portion of the manor. Its walls are made out of small sandstone masonry, which could date to the 11th and 12th centuries. The manor’s façades and roof, as well as its eastern two-storey wing, are listed as historical monuments.

In Orne, in the rolling landscape of Perche, a restored manor listed as a historical monument, protected by high walls, and its garden. Within walking distance of the village, halfway up a hill, at the end of a small road, the estate reveals itself, surrounded by tall walls flanked by round towers. The manor enclosure, accessible via a monumental crenelated gate, encircles a large U-shaped courtyard. The layout has been carefully landscaped, taking advantage of the slope and opening to the west towards the surrounding countryside, overlooking the enclosure. The main building is characterized by its high gable roof, covered in tiles and highlighted by a cornice. It is extended by a second building that is attached to it. Other buildings, respectively used as a gite, guardian's house, and various dependencies, complete the enclosure. Behind the main building, accessible by the layout, an orchard of 2 hectares commands the countryside.This description has been automatically translated from French.

A medieval dwelling, listed as a Historical Monument, with a swimming pool and tennis court, near an 18-hole golf course and surrounded by 112 hectares, including 7 hectares of Protected Designation of Origin vineyards, near Saint-Emilion. Extending on from the Saint-Emilion plateau, the property is located in the heights of the Castillon-Côtes-de-Bordeaux appellation region, overlooking the Dordogne valley. Set back from the village, it takes advantage of its privileged position, which ensures great privacy as well as views of the valley’s remarkable environment and the surrounding vineyards and meadows. At the end of a village, the property is accessible via a private road bordered by vineyards, which then branches off into two lanes, providing access to the large wine storehouse off to one side, built during the Second French Empire, as well as, on the right, a small tenant farmer’s house, followed by several outbuildings, mostly grouped around an open courtyard, near a swimming pool and a tennis court. As for the property, it extends over more than 112 hectares of land, vineyards and forests, while vast landscaped grounds surround the medieval chateau. The latter’s partial inclusion on the list of historical monuments mentions the protection of the 14th-century dwelling, its four towers, entrance pavilion with its staircase turret, exteriors and rooftops of the other buildings that compose the edifice as well as those for the Second Empire wine storehouses, with the exclusion of the outbuildings to the west. Lastly, the contiguous vineyards guarantee great regularity for the estate’s wine production. Exclusively planted on clay-limestone hills, they benefit from natural drainage and excellent sunlight thanks to their mostly southwest exposure.

The former courthouse and its chapel listed as a historical monument, in Burgundy, in the historical centre of Joigny. The former courthouse, situated in the heart of the Saint André district, occupies an emblematic position on Place de la République, a vast cobbled esplanade dominated by the church after which the district is named, historically populated by craftspeople and winegrowers as well as being the cradle of medieval Joigny. The property is made up of three separate sections standing around an inner courtyard away from prying eyes. The edifice was erected in the early 19th century and boasts the solemn architecture typical of the era’s public institutions. The main façade, made of dressed limestone, overlooks a wide flight of stone steps leading up to an immense double-leaf door. Moulded capitals frame the door, above which there is a cornice topped by a semi-circular opening in which there is a large fanlight window. The triangular pediment atop the central avant-corps is adorned with an allegorical high relief depicting a female figure that is most likely Themis, who was the incarnation of justice during the Greek Antiquity. On both sides of the building, the façades are punctuated with tall, vertical, brick-framed windows, topped with semi-circular fanlight windows, reminiscent of the central opening on the pediment. The Ferrand chapel adjoining the northern end of the courthouse is a precious reminder of Joigny’s religious heritage. It was built in 1530 and used as a family funeral chapel before being incorporated into the courthouse in the 19th century. Behind wrought-iron railings stands its octagonal structure boasting sculpted pilasters and ornamental alcoves. Its upper part is adorned with a bas-relief macabre art frieze depicting scenes from the Last Judgement and the resurrection. A double-curved slate dome previously adorned its roof but today it is topped by a more sober conical roof, paying witness to the transformations carried out throughout the centuries. To the west, another building connects with the courthouse and was formerly the court administration and magistrates’ offices. With the appearance of a townhouse, this two-storey building is today used for residential purposes. The stone-coloured rendered façade is punctuated by five vertical rows of openings with red brick frames fitted with louvred shutters. From the square, to the left of the courthouse’s façade, a wide, double-leaf wrought iron gate opens into the reception courtyard. The roofs, punctuated with dormer windows, are made of traditional Burgundy flat tiles. To the rear, there is a courtyard boasting flowerbeds, a Virginia creeper and a large-leaved Paulownia tree.

A renovated listed church and its 5,000 m² of grounds in a village 15 minutes from Poitiers. The church, designated 'basilica', stands out for its prominent position in the village. An avenue of plane trees marks the entrance to the grounds surrounding the edifice. Built of rendered limestone between 1884 and 1889, the church reflects the Medieval Revival architecture and other eclectic elements of a period marked by the influence of Viollet-le-Duc. It has a groundplan in the form of a Latin cross with a single nave. Its bell tower-porch, designed by the architect Alcide Boutaud, has an unfinished facade, known as a “bonding facade”, which lends it an almost Romanesque style, even though the structure adopts Gothic architectural references. Two metal spiral staircases flank the entrance and lead up to a balcony, where a large pointed-arch opening with double-glazing provides access to a fully restored organ. On either side of the nave, large galleries form a cloister which links the doorways to the chapels. Their entrances are embellished by two pointed arches and two attached pilasters. These galleries have been double-glazed and fitted with new-generation radiators. The entire basilica, including the sacristy, was included in the French National Heritage List by decree on 4 January 2011.

A listed, 15th &17th century house, with an outbuilding and a garden, in the undulating, wooded countryside of the Anjou region. This house stands on the edge of a little country lane, going through the forest, and in a hamlet composed of several houses, including another historic manor house. A small planted garden enhances the house facade. A rear courtyard, also planted, is bordered on one of its sides by an outbuilding and a low wall. Further away, reached by steps, a garden and the forest, part of which could be purchased.

The advertiser did not provide an english description for this listing.

A former priory from the 13th century, listed as a historical monument and nestled in the Morvan regional nature park in Burgundy. Saint-Jean-des-Bonshommes priory was a monastery that was part of the Order of Grandmont. It was built at the start of the 13th century where an antique sanctuary once stood. Anséric VI, Seigneur of Montréal, ordered construction of the edifice. The monastery underwent the French Wars of Religion in the 16th century. And in 1772, when Pope Clement XIV disbanded the Order of Grandmont, it was made available to the diocesan archbishop. Following the French Revolution, the monastery was sold as national property in 1791 and became a family property up to 1846 when it was damaged by a fire that destroyed most of the monastic buildings. The church, however, survived this fire. In 1880, it became a source of stones as building material, rather like an open quarry. Moved by this fate, a learned society acquired the edifice in 1905, requested that it be listed as a historical monument and set about restoring the edifice. The remaining church is characteristic of the architectural principles of the Order of Grandmont. It is the most imposing edifice in this monastic complex. It has a plain elevation without a door, a single nave and a closed chancel, beneath a brick barrel vault that stretches to a half-dome above an apse with three windows. The chapel’s elevations are made of different stones. The lower ones, evenly sized, are neatly carved blocks and the upper ones, raw rubble stones, lie where the vault rises up. The apse is ornamented outside with four elegant built-in columns. The remains of the monastic buildings have been preserved, including the cloister arches, the elegant arcades of the chapterhouse and part of the walls of the pantries and refectory. The church has a roof of barrel ties, with conical tiles for the apse, made in a local tile factory.

A captivating 17th-century manor and its outbuildings, listed as Historical Monuments and in need of a complete restoration, on enclosed grounds of nearly 3.5 hectares, less than two hours from Paris, in the Eure department. This property includes several buildings dating from the late 16th century to the first half of the 17th century, which come together to create a coherent and aesthetically pleasing complex of edifices. In need of a complete restoration, the buildings, with the manor in the middle, are surrounded by immense grassy grounds, which are, in turn, encircled by living hedges and tall trees along their edges.

The advertiser did not provide an english description for this listing.

A historical flat, with 75 m² and two bedrooms, in a 17th-century building, not far from Bordeaux’s Great Bell. The flat is located within a national Historical Monument building, built in the late 17th century. The elaborate building, which was reorganised many times, is laid out around a central edifice facing the street, which is, in turn, supplemented by a small interior courtyard and an immense garden-courtyard bordered by a right-angle wing. As for its current façade, built in 1771 by the Laclotte brothers, upon the request of Joseph-Michel de Montaigne, it conceals the original buildings, constructed around 1697-1698 in all likelihood by the Roumilhac master masons. On the ground floor, a stately, open gallery features three rusticated stonework arches, topped with a wraparound balcony supported by corbels and safeguarded by a baluster guardrail. In addition, the private mansion also stands out thanks to its wide dog-legged half-turn staircase, the walls of which are cadenced by small niches, while the flat, with approximately 75 m² and two bedrooms, is located on the second and last floor of this breath-taking building.

The advertiser did not provide an english description for this listing.

A 12th-century chateau with ramparts and 15 hectares of grounds, listed as a historical monument and looking down over a valley by the Pyrenees mountains. From a bird’s-eye view, the chateau seems to be perched atop a wooded hill like a sentry looking out across the undulating landscape of France’s Couserans province. Around the chateau, there is a patchwork of gently sloping meadows, woods and fields that lines the serrated horizon of the Pyrenees mountains. Your gaze, first struck by the relief of the land, is eventually drawn to the oval form of the chateau’s enclosing wall that encircles a plain mass of barrel-tiled roofs and pale stone elevations. All aspects of this chateau give the impression of a calm, dense, unshakeable unit. As you leave the local village to approach the chateau, the modern world fades away. The road becomes a country lane and later becomes a shady track. The driveway to the chateau is flanked with oaks and beeches and edged with stone bollards crowned with orbs and linked with a chain. This driveway seems like a formal route, rigorously plotted and solemnly discreet. There is no showy gate here, but just the murmur of the wind, sunrays filtered through leaves and a rare feeling of slowly ascending to a dwelling inhabited by something other than everyday life. At last, the chateau’s facade comes into view between the trees. Plain yet welcoming, the chateau adjoins its rampart like a hand fitting into a glove. A door in an arch that cuts through the full thickness of the enclosing wall marks the entrance. Beyond this archway, you find yourself in an inner court, some of which is grassy. Here you can see different tokens of the chateau’s past: a well dug into the rock, the Romantic ruins of outhouses waiting to be brought back to life, a square tower, adjoining annexes and successive recesses of architecture that has adapted over time without ever betraying its origin. The chateau was built in the 12th century. In the 17th century, it was turned into a summer holiday home. Today it is listed as a historical monument. The chateau has kept its structural coherence and residential design.

A 12th-century medieval residence, listed as a historical monument, in the former capital of the old Vivarais province, on the banks of the River Rhône. Until the French Revolution, the property was the residence of rich owners, before accommodating the town hall for two centuries until 1947, when it was sold to private owners. The house underwent various alterations and restorations as the years passed by, particularly in 1563, 1855 and 1856. Today it has a rectangular layout made up of two parts linked by a central, stone, spiral staircase leading to the three upper floors that make up the edifice. The western façade, which overlooks the square, was transformed in the 17th century. This narrow section with two vertical rows of openings is the ‘public’ part of the house, facing the square. There are windows on each of its four levels. The façade is crowned by a moulded cornice and a stone balustrade behind which the roof is hidden. The southern façade is the house’s longest. It looks onto the street called Rue du Château leading to the episcopal district. A third of the wall has no windows and in the centre, the entrance door with a basket-handle arch is framed by moulded splaying. Directly above it, there are four windows with moulded frames dating from the Middle Ages, through which the spiral staircase is bathed in light. On the right-hand side of the façade, the windows with mostly moulded frames, above two bayonet-shaped drip stones following the slope of Rue du Château, allow the living rooms to be flooded with light. The eastern half of the façade still has traces of older openings. On the second floor, there is still a gemelled window whose central column is adorned with chevron fluting and whose chapters are carved with stylised acanthus leaves. Other Romanesque origin openings are still visible. Lastly, since the northern and eastern façades are secondary elevations, they have much less openings. A complete architectural study has been carried out (seen attachment in annex).

A restored 16th-century mansion with over seven hectares of grounds, nestled in France’s River Loir valley and listed as a historical monument. A quiet country lane leads through meadows and farmland on a plateau. From this lane, a driveway lined with North American oaks leads up to the seigneurial mansion. A car park lies next to an entrance to a vast courtyard. You cross a bridge over a water-filled moat on the south side. The mansion stands straight ahead. All the buildings are arranged around the courtyard. A tree-dotted garden lies on the east side, behind a high stone wall yet within the moat’s enclosure. In the north-west corner of the moat-enclosed complex, another bridge stretches across the moat. From this spot, you can gaze out at meadows where majestic trees tower. A small wood also lies in the property’s north-west corner, beside its boundaries. Meadows evenly spread around the moat-formed island cover an area of around six hectares. The estate dates back to the 14th century, when the land was part of the nearby fiefdom of La Mothe d’Olbeau. Over the centuries, several families followed one after another on this estate that forms a self-sufficient home. The dwelling was probably built in the 15th century, then extended and redesigned between the late 16th century and the early 17th century to create, above all, its staircase tower and central pavilion. All the fireplaces inside date back to this period and were doubtless crafted by a specialist stone cutter. In the 18th century, the rear eastern pavilion with large windows, a section slightly lower in height, was added to the edifice and the south-east-facing facade was transformed to harmonise the whole mansion’s appearance. In the 16th century, a range of fortifications were made, including the surrounding wall, the moat with its bridges, a fortified tower, and more than twenty arrow slits. At the start of the 20th century, the estate covered around 150 hectares that included smallholdings and a mill.

A chateau from the 16th and 17th centuries listed as a Historical Monument, its outbuildings and equestrian facilities over 18 hectares of grounds between the Sarthe, Mayenne and Maine-et-Loire departments, near Sablé. Two drives lead to a carriage entrance topped with a pediment that opens onto a grand courtyard. On one side, is the chateau and, on the other, an immense outbuilding, both façades of which are punctuated by pruned yew trees, while a covered well is located in the centre. The current chateau corresponds to the former abbatial dwelling: this is where the Abbot resided, in the western wing of the abbey that once stood here. During the 18th century, the court was at Versailles and the buildings were spruced up and converted so they could be rented out, therefore providing the abbey with some revenue. With three storeys, including an attic level, the chateau is made out of plaster-coated stone and rubble stone. On the side facing the grounds, its slate hipped roof is cadenced by four bull’s-eye windows, while, on the side facing the courtyard, there are three attic dormer windows grouped together under a single pediment in addition to four other dormer windows. Both the chateau’s east and west exteriors are crowned with a pediment on their roofs, which is then repeated above the central entrance on each side. With window and door surrounds decorated with smooth rusticated stonework, the three doors on the chateau’s façade are topped with either curvilinear or triangular pediments, while its quoins, cornice and dormer windows are made out of ashlar stone. Inside, the chateau has conserved its original décor: cartouches, medallions, chimneybreasts, decorative window and door surrounds, wood panelling, marble and stone, while the size of the magnificent rooms as well as their floor-to-ceiling height add to the chateau’s overall grandeur. In addition to the topiary garden on the chateau’s eastern side, there is also a dovecote, orchard, vegetable garden, ornamental trees and a stream, which is straddled by an old bridge flanked by the columns of an ancient carriage entrance. All around, the grounds are made up of pastures, tall trees and a small wood, while equestrian facilities have been created to the west of the outbuilding, on the side facing the grounds. These include wooden paddocks, a riding ring and an area for the horses to rest and relax. The carriage entrance, the chateau’s exteriors as well as its entrance hall, vast living room, dining room and seven bedrooms are listed as national historical monuments as are the well and bridge, while the outbuilding’s exteriors and the dovecote are registered as regional historical monuments.