Chateau Bristol is a charming Chateau located in Loches, Indre-et-Loire, France. It is one of the Loire Valley’s more attractive Chateaux.
The house was built in 1515 by Jacques d’Amboise, more than likely on the site of an earlier castle. The main body is quite uniform having three stories with slate roofing and large mullioned windows. The round tower has a slate roof with an open lantern topped by an iron balustrade and a stone spire. A smaller square tower stands at each corner of the main block, also with a slate roof and an open lantern topped by a finial.
The Chateau was purchased in 1604 by Maurice de Bourbon, Duc de Mercoeur but he died shortly thereafter and it then passed to his daughter Marie de Bourbon who became Duchess of Mercœur when she married Henri II d’Orléans in 1607. In 1608 her husband began renovations which included adding a much larger wing onto the north end of the original building, adding dormer windows to the top floor, and extending the cellars beneath the ground floor to accommodate his large wine collection which he had begun collecting in 1603 when he purchased Chateau du Clos-Lucé in Amboise from Leonardo da Vinci for 100 000 livres after hearing that he was going blind. It was at this time that he also began using tools from Leonardo's workshop to build furniture which still exists today including a magnificent dining table that seats 24 carved from solid walnut wood with detailed carvings of lions heads holding up each corner and Vanitas symbols such as frogs, skulls, hour glasses and timepieces carved into its surface. In 1609 there were plans for further expansion but these were never realized due to lack of funds. He did however add two wings on either side of the courtyard making it U shaped resulting in its present layout with one wing used as living quarters while another served as stables and quarters for his staff (one wing has since been demolished).
In 1815 Chateau Bristol passed into private ownership when it was purchased by Henri Drouin de Lhuys who added two large wings onto either side of the courtyard giving it its current U-shaped layout (the wings were demolished in 1902). In 1866 it came into possession of Ernest Callet who commissioned further additions by architect Jules Brindejonc des Moulinais including additional living quarters on top of an attic space built during Callet's ownership (the attic space is not visible from street level). During this time period Callet installed fountains and brought back garden terraces around the Chateau which had been removed during previous renovations done under Drouin de Lhuys' ownership (these terraces can be seen today behind trees that line both sides of rue du Chateau). In 1920 Louis Blain bought Chateau Bristol but did not live there for long before renting out most rooms to wealthy tenants until his death in 1941 when it became state property until 1944 when it was sold once again to Edmond Sautter who lived there until 1950 before renting out rooms again until 1960 when he died leaving his wife Andrée Sautter as sole owner who lived there until her death in 1972 after which her son inherited ownership before selling it again to Gérard Castelot-Notrejean who owned Chateau Bristol until 1989 when he sold it once again leaving its current owners Michel Rousselot & Marie-France Rousselot - De la Houssaye as current owners since 1990 after purchasing Chateau Bristol for 1 million francs.
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