Sunday 18 March 2012

La laiterie

This is, or rather was, a dairy. It was built in the mid 1780s by Jean-François Chalgrin for Marie-Joséphine of Savoy, countess of Provence and sister-in-law of King Louis the 16th. Having a dairy was the height of fashion! No better view, it stands now as it did then on private grounds.

Voici ce qui fut la laiterie construite au milieu des années 1780 pour Marie-Joséphine de Savoie, comtesse de Provence et belle-sœur de Louis XVI par Jean-François Chalgrin. On ne peut malheureusement s'en approcher, aujourd'hui comme hier, elle se situe dans un parc résidentiel privé.

19 comments:

Randy said...

What a great photo of this old dairy.

Jack said...

Next time, climb over the fence and take another picture, Ciel. Your art must be served!

Regina K said...

Laughing at Jack's comment. How interesting to have your own dairy, I wonder what the building is used for today.

黄清华 Wong Ching Wah said...

Very interesting story about it !

Thérèse said...

A rather luxurious housing for cows!

Diane said...

I wonder why they don't open it? It looks very interesting.xx

Cezar and Léia said...

I like this kind of photo with the main subject "hidden" behind tree branches...
Such a laiterie makes me think of life lived in a more basic way, before people struggled with financial markets issues and things like this... Although I'm sure they also had problems of their own age...
God bless you!
Cezar

Malyss said...

Le batiment ne parait pas si ancien vu comme ça. Quand on pense qu'avoir du lait frais etait le comble de la mode..

Lowell said...

From the looks of it, I'd not have guessed it was a dairy. Interesting, too, how the wealthy dabbled in cows.

Hope you're having a great Sunday!

SRQ said...

A dairy in the 1780's? Impressive. I wonder why it needed to be so tall? Bon dimanche!

Wayne said...

A dairy in the 1700's sounds very progressive. It looks fabulous.

EG CameraGirl said...

How interesting that having a dairy was fashionable. A friend of mine owns a dairy near a new housing development and despite having signed papers (before moving in) saying they didn't mind dairies, the new home owners complained bitterly about the odors. It appears they liked the IDEA of country living but not the realities. I wonder how the royals felt.

Unknown said...

I'm with Cezar. Love the photo!

VP said...

I like the way you framed this old building...

theconstantwalker said...

It looks fascinating.. go on climb the wall and get some close ups.

Olivier said...

c'est un beau batiment (dommage que tu ne puisses pas l'approcher) , il me fait penser a un pigeonnier

joo said...

It's lovely, Ciel!
have a nice week ahead:)

Loree said...

How interesting. I never would have thought that having a dairy would be a fashionable thing to do.

Anonymous said...

I think it looks like a church. I suppose cream was such a luxury back then? Now we take such things for granted. So glad I have some for my coffee!

(I may not be blogging anymore...but I still want to stop by occasionally!)