Considerably enlarged at the end of the 19th centurythe Château de Montlaur testifies to the fabulous prosperity of the Languedoc wine growing when Edouard Niermans (1859-1928) the famous architect of the Café Society , the forerunner of the Jet Set, acquired it in 1921 by the most curious of coincidences.
The richness of the work of Edouard Niermans and the eclecticism of his style linked to the requirements of his commissioners place this outstanding architect among the great organizers of the architectural pleasures of what was later called the "Belle Epoque" . "With Niermans, the architecture of the 19th century became inspiring and smiled" wrote the historian Bruno Foucart.
"Born in Holland by an error of nature", as a columnist in the Gil Blas humorously wrote, Edouard Niermans settled in Nice in 1909, where his brilliant career led him. He has an impressive track record with - among others - the Negresco palace in NIce, the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz, the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Chatel Guyon theatre as well the Brasserie Mollard, the Moulin Rouge, the Casino de Paris, the Folies Bergères, the Capucines, l'Elysée Montmartre , le théâtre Marigny in Paris where he built thirty-two theatres.
Friend of Auguste Renoir, Théo Van Gogh - Vincent's brother -, the poster artist Jules Chéret, the painter Félix Ziem and the architect Charles Garnier, Edouard Niermans married Louise Marie-Héloïse Dewachter (1871-1963), a beautiful young belgian woman of 24, in 1895. She was the sister of the post-impressionist painter Isidore Louis Dewachter(1872-1946) known as Louis Dewis , Louise Marie-Héloïse was the heiress of the Dewachter chain shops, the flagship of which was the one on rue Sainte-Catherine in Bordeaux. They had two sons, Jean and Edouard and a daughter, Hélène.
Below, from left to right, Hélène, Jean and Edouard
Leaving Paris to follow his numerous projects on the French Riviera, the architect settled in 1909 with his family in Nice. On the Chemin de Carras, in the western part of the city called La Californie, he builds for his family a small neo-classical palace the Villa des Eucalyptus, which also housed his agency. The Negresco, the palace of the palaces, whose January 4, 1913 the splendors of the opening in front of a parterre of crowned heads were going to defray the chronicle, hardly leaves its cardboard boxes...
In 1902, Paul Flers, the new owner of the Moulin Rouge commissioned Edouard Niermans to transform the famous ball into a performance hall. The architect leveled the old building while keeping the scarlet mill and built a new building which he decorated in three months. : the 2,200-seat hall is made up of a parterre, balconies, boxes and a restaurant where you can dine while watching the stage with dimensions comparable to those of the Opera, where major shows take place. In summer, this large ambulatory room can hold up to 1,500 spectators and opens onto a garden
Nothing predestined this architect, courted by the establishment to settle as a winegrower in the small village of Val de Dagne, a few kilometres from the Cité de Carcassonne which had just been revived by
Viollet-le-Duc
1914. The war puts an end to the party. In the aftermath of the most deadly conflict in contemporary history, business proved difficult. Fortunes weakened. The world changed.
Close to Tsar Nicholas II, a member of the Parisian Russian intelligentsia, attached to the Chancellery of the Empire, Nicolas Raffalovich acquired the Domaine de Montlaur in compensation for gambling debts contracted in 1919 at the Monte-Carlo Casino by the heir by Paul Mas, the builder of the Château de Montlaur.
Property as a bargaining chip... Nicolas Raffalovich offers to compensate Edouard Niermans by giving him the Domaine de Montlaur which he barely knows having never stayed there.
Without any alternative, the deal was concluded in 1921: through gambling, Edouard Niermans became the owner of the Domaine de Montlaur, which then included more than a hundred hectares of vines and cereals. "It's better than nothing," judged Louise Marie-Héloïse, his wife, when she discovered the property one day in April 1920.
The charming spa
of Matrigny-les-Bains
in Voges (France)
around 1910
Louise Marie-Héloïse Dewachter (1871-1963), sister of the post-impressionist painter Isidore Louis Dewachter (1872-1946) known as Louis Dewis, married the architect Edouard Niermans in 1895.
Portrait circa 1900 signed Paul Gervais.
For the architect, an unexpected adventure begins that will change the course of his life. Gradually handing over the reins of his architectural firm to his sons Jean and Édouard, both architects who would work under the name of "Les frères Niermans" , the tireless builder became passionate about viticulture. He immersed himself in oenology treaties, built concrete vats, brought steel dumpers on jacks from Algeria, planted and modernized the vineyard. At the entrance of the property, the immense cellar guarded by two stone pillars surmounted by two barrels still testifies to the past importance of the estate.
Under the impulse of the new owner, the domain takes its breath back. But soon illness caught up with Edouard Niermans, who died on October 19, 1928 at the Château de Montlaur where he spent the last years of his life.
Today the Domaine de Montlaur is the property of Edouard Niermans' grandchildren.
Read: Edouard Niermans, architect of the Cafe Society, by Jean-François Pinchon, introduction by Bruno Foucart. 335 pages. Mardaga edition.
