Château de Montolivet

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Didier Menard

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Overlooking the village of Passins, this large U-shaped castle, fitted out in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries in the classical spirit, is set in a vast park with outbuildings. Today private, the estate includes a gîte and can host events.

The castle of Montolivet is an imposing construction, badly dated and several times altered, registered in a vast park. The farm formerly dependent on the castle is located below, 200 meters north of it. The building, on two levels + attic, comprises three U-shaped wings, drawing a main courtyard to the north, facing south on the landscaped park below.
It seems that the oldest part is the square tower located at the southwest corner, in which the chapel was once located. The lower parts could date back to the end of the 1781th century. Of the developments attributed to the Count of Audiffret, there remains above all the monumental portal dated 1824, at the end of the planted avenue. The XNUMX cadastral plan shows an “L” shaped building, accompanied by outbuildings, a hunting building, a farmhouse, an oven and a barn. The cadastral matrices of the time mention several bodies of water in the gardens. The whole especially bears the mark of the work undertaken in the second half of the XNUMXth century by Joseph Lepine, then by the Capron couple, to redesign a building with a regular plan in the style of the XNUMXth century.
The creation of the western wing, as a counterpart to the already existing wing, features the courtyard façade with a central front building with a pediment. The facades are recomposed with a rich artificial stone molding, the bays of windows crowned one in two by roof dormers. The decoration of the coffered ceiling of the entrance hall, painted on an agricultural theme, is probably due to the work carried out in the mid-19th century by the winegrower owner Joseph Lepine, as is the layout of the outbuildings.

The building has obtained the “Heritage in Isère” label, rewarding the heritage quality of a building of departmental interest.

History, culture and heritage

The castle would have succeeded an old fortified house, mentioned as early as 1344. The history has been known more precisely since the 1753th century, when it became the property of the Gauteron, lords of Passins. In 1815, Anne Marguerite de Gauteron married the Comte d'Audiffret in the castle chapel. Their eldest son would become mayor of Passins in 1893. A few years later, the estate was sold to the Barge de Certeau family, which itself gave two mayors to the town. In the middle of the 1902th century, the complex was sold to Joseph Lepine, a former settler and winegrower in Algeria. In 1929, it was acquired by M. and Me Capron, from Cannes. André Capron would become one of the main architects of the rise of the city of Cannes, which he directed from 1922 to 1976. The couple undertook work to make the castle a country residence. In XNUMX, the spouses separated from the château in favor of an industrialist from Lyon. Many owners then succeeded before its transformation in the sixties into a holiday center, taken over by the Federations of Secular Works in XNUMX. It is now a private property.

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