The 'Château de Saint-Hubert' was a royal
château built by order of
Louis XV in
Perray-in-Yvelines (now in the department of
Yvelines), for use while he was
hunting in the nearby forest (
Saint Hubert is the
patron saint of hunters). The design was entrusted to
Ange-Jacques Gabriel, designer of the
École Militaire, and the building was under construction from 1755 to 1758.
Saint-Hubert was originally intended as a simple
hunting lodge, to allow the King to rest during and after the hunt without calling on his cousin, the
duc de Penthièvre. Work was not completed by 1756, and it was decided to turn Saint-Hubert into a full château, with a main building housing 25 nobles, plus two projecting
service wings and a gatehouse creating a courtyard. The main room was elaborately decorated with painted
stucco.
The building was still not completed by the death of Louis XV, and
Louis XVI abandoned it as too expensive. Instead, he bought the
Château de Rambouillet from the
duc de Penthièvre. Saint-Hubert then fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1855. Little remains today.
Louis XV had planned a
model village around the Château de Saint-Hubert, but it also was never completed.
A painting by
Charles-André van Loo ordered in 1758 for the chapel at Saint-Hubert, ''The conversion of Saint-Hubert'' is now housed in the église Saint-Lubin-et-Saint-Jean in
Rambouillet.
References
★ ''Translated from the equivalent article at French Wikipédia,
12 February 2006''