Castle Saint-Gaudens (31)

A 19th century chateau set in 2 hectares of grounds, 1 hour from Toulouse, in the Comminges region, not far from the Pyrenees. The chateau was built on the site of the seigneurial estate of Martres-de-Rivière by the viscount of Sainte-Gème in 1867. Designed by the architect Alfonse Azibert, the chateau is glimpsed through a heavy wrought-iron gate set well in front of the building, and which opens onto a circular driveway that leads up to the building. It is bordered by the parkland on either side, which is adorned with a number of different tree species. The grounds are enclosed by walls and contain a private chapel to the right of the gate which was built in 1840 and dedicated to Notre-Dame (Our Lady). The chateau is made up of a central body with seven bays and three storeys under the eaves, flanked at each corner by a hexagonal watch turret on the main facade, built in red brick like the stringcourse separating the two main storeys. The south-facing facade, most of which is rendered ashlar, is perfectly symmetrical. The centre is enhanced by a massive, panelled, wooden entrance door, which is painted dark green and studded and which has a small flight of steps with a carved openwork stone balustrade. Topped by a fan-shaped glass transom and framed by two small single-leaf windows, the door is also further enhanced by an elaborately carved blond stone coping, representing the coat of arms of the Viscount of Sainte-Gème with crown, lions and scrolls. The straight, regular windows are framed in ashlar. The mullioned dormers are surmounted by pediments, broken or without a base, with rich sculpted decorations, in relief or recessed, of scrolls, pinnacles, flowers and other ornaments with plant motifs, as well as a head and crown above the central window. Completely renovated, the central building has a four-sided slate roof topped with a frieze and two zinc finials. The turrets are topped with pepper pot roofs. The perfect symmetry of the north facade is enhanced by a three-storey, hexagonal-roofed tower in the centre, built of brick and ashlar. It has six rectangular windows on each floor (not including those in the tower) and is topped by the same number of mullioned and pedimented dormers, identical to those on the south facade.