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The Château de Maisons is the most complete work surviving from the hand of François Mansart and gives a better idea than any other of his genius as an architect. In 1642 René de Longueil decided to build a new château on his estate and, having called in Mansart, appears to have given him a completely free hand. The main structure seems to have been finished in 1646, but the decoration may have extended over many years.
The frontispiece grows out of the main wall in a series of shallow layers. The plane of the main wall of the façade is carried on upwards in the top storey of the frontispiece which is decorated with Corinthian pilasters only. In front of this stands a layer constructed with columns - Doric below, Ionic above - and on the ground floor there projects from this yet another block, slightly narrower than the other panels and articulated with Doric pilasters. Behind this frontispiece and behind the wall of the main façade stands an attic supporting a high-pitched roof. The entablature over the Corinthian pilasters is completely interrupted; that over the Ionic columns breaks back over the central window, and that over the Doric pilasters on the ground floor is continuous. In this way there is built up a structure of blocks each clearly defined, each different from its neighbour and each seeming to grow logically out of the whole setting. This is perhaps the purest example of the plasticity of Mansart's architecture in the 1640s.
The photo shows the frontispiece on the entrance side of the château.
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