A 19th-century wine merchant's grand house with a riverside garden, just south of the town of Vittel in France's Vosges department - ref 504211
A 19th-century wine merchant's grand house with a riverside garden, just south of the town of Vittel in France's Vosges department.
The earliest traces of the village's past date back to the Gallo-Roman period. Many remnants still attest to this era. The property is tucked away in France's beautiful Vosges department, near the border with the country's bucolic Haute-Marne and Haute-Saône departments. It is nestled in an unspoilt, undulating, wooded landscape dotted with pastures, rivers and thermal springs. The village lies between meanders of the nascent River Saône and only has around 900 inhabitants. It offers shops and amenities for everyday life. The train stations in the towns of Contrexéville et Vittel are respectively 21 kilometres and 28 kilometres away. The city of Épinal is 50 kilometres away. You can reach the A31 motorway in 25 minutes. Metz-Nancy airport and Basel-Mulhouse airport are both around 125 kilometres away.
The edifice stands in the heart of the village, at the foot of the old feudal castle's remains. It faces traces of excavated cave spaces. Its remarkable, authentic facade with two flights of sandstone front steps edged with a wrought-iron balustrade looks down at the road. On the south side, its rear elevation is lined with a raised terrace that looks down at a garden with walls along its sides. The River Saône edges the garden lengthways. The house is extended with outbuildings crowned with tiled roofing. These include a workshop, a garage, a former secondary dwelling, a woodstore, a stable and a former bakehouse.
The houseThe edifice was built in 1809. It is rectangular in shape and has four levels. Its elevations are made of rubble stone and dressed stone. The windows are evenly spread out symmetrically and most of them have kept their original frames. The building is crowned with a tiled hipped roof with three dormers. The two doorbells that frame the entrance double door beneath its finely crafted glazed fanlight are a token of the house's former purpose as both a dwelling and a business. The plinth course includes three ground-level doors that lead down to the cellars. Another door leads into a cart shelter with an arched entrance bearing the inscription "Bureau" ("Office") in capital letters. On the south side, the rear elevation is punctuated with windows in the same arrangement as on the opposite side. A vine climbs up it. A long terrace with a wrought-iron balustrade edges this wall. The terrace looks out at the garden and the landscape beyond it.
The first level
The entrance double door stands at the top of the front flight of steps. It has kept all its original iron fittings. It leads into a spacious hallway that runs all the way through the edifice to the garden at the back. From this hallway, two stone staircases with wrought-iron balusters rise up in symmetry to the first floor. On the left, a first door leads to a kitchen with original stone-slab flooring. It has a stone sink, wooden-panelled cupboards that take up an entire wall and an imposing stone fireplace. An adjoining scullery has wood strip flooring and a flight of wooden backstairs that leads upstairs. This scullery lies beside a dining room that faces the garden. The dining room's chevron parquet, clock and wooden wall panelling with an integrated fireplace create the old ambience of traditional family homes. On the garden side, there is a second room with wood strip flooring. It is bathed in natural light and has a stone fireplace. It leads to a bathroom with a lavatory beneath the flight of backstairs. To the right of the hallway, a first door leads to a pantry with stone-slab flooring. It has a stone sink beneath blue and white ceramic tiles, an imposing stone fireplace and a wall of painted wooden panelling that integrates cupboards. It connects to a flight of backstairs, a ...
