Château de Saint-Hubert

Le Perray-en-Yvelines, France

No longer standing

Demolished or destroyed.

Built for Louis XV in Le Perray-en-Yvelines between 1755 and 1758, the Château de Saint-Hubert was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, architect of the École Militaire, as a royal hunting lodge in the forest sacred to Saint Hubert, patron saint of hunters. Originally conceived as a modest retreat, the project expanded during construction into a full château with a main residence for twenty-five nobles, two service wings, and a gatehouse arranged around a courtyard. The principal room featured elaborate painted stucco decoration. Work remained incomplete at Louis XV's death, and his successor Louis XVI, deeming the expense unjustifiable, abandoned the château in favor of purchasing the Château de Rambouillet instead. Left to deteriorate, the structure was demolished in 1855. A painting by Charles-André van Loo commissioned in 1758 for the chapel—depicting the conversion of Saint-Hubert—survives in the église Saint-Lubin-et-Saint-Jean in Rambouillet.