Château de la Droitière

The Château de la Droitière (also historically known as Drouetière) is a historic château located in the commune of Mauves-sur-Loire, in the Loire-Atlantique department of the Pays de la Loire region in western France, about 15–17 km east of Nantes. It stands on the cliffs overlooking the Loire at an elevation of 76 metres.

In the 16th century the land belonged to the Malestroit family, seigneurs of Oudon. In 1526 counterfeiting was discovered in a cave on the estate (still known as the “Grotte des faux-monnayeurs”); Jean de Malestroit was executed in Nantes.

A residence was built in the mid-17th century by Nantes merchants (first Barbot, then the Bazille family, who traded with Saint-Domingue). In 1786–1788 François Guillet de La Brosse and his wife Marie-Flore Thiercelin remodelled it in pure Louis XVI / neo-classical style; the works are attributed to the Nantes architect Mathurin Crucy. A colonnade was added to the west façade, crowned by a pediment bearing the family arms, together with outbuildings, an orangery and a walled kitchen garden.

In 1867 the estate was purchased by Victor Fleury and his wife Mathilde Verne, sister of the writer Jules Verne. It was enlarged in 1872 according to plans by Jourdan Blondel. Victor Fleury (trained at the École des Eaux et Forêts) and Jules Verne together created the landscape park – regarded as the only park in France designed with the involvement of Jules Verne. They introduced numerous exotic species, including the famous Atlas blue cedar planted by Verne around 1880. The 11-hectare walled park combines a classical French formal core from the 17th–18th centuries with a 19th-century English-style picturesque landscape and contains many remarkable trees.

In the 20th century the site served as a sanatorium and later as hospital facilities until its closure in 2000. After a failed hotel project, the modern extensions were demolished. Since 2018 (and as owner since 2022) the Association des Amis du Parc et du Château de La Droitière has been restoring the château and opening the park to the public for cultural events. The site was classified in 1942; the park was recognised as an “Ensemble Arboré Remarquable” in 2022.