When Isabelle Moltzer’s parents reluctantly sold the Domaine de Bailleul in Normandy in 2011, she believed she would never return. “It was nightmarish,” she recalls. “It took two months to move everything out.” What made it particularly traumatic was that the 50-hectare property had been in the family since the mid 16th century, when its château was built by one of her ancestors, Bertrand de Bailleul (he is said to have welcomed Mary, Queen of Scots, there). “My attachment to the estate is visceral,” says Moltzer.
For years afterward, she avoided going anywhere near and deliberately made detours when passing through the region. Now, a curious twist of fate not only finds her back working at Bailleul, but also ecstatically ensconced in her childhood home— an outbuilding called La Maison Normande, or the Norman House, which she uses mainly for vacations and weekend getaways. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself,” she admits. “It’s like a fairy tale.”
In the role not quite of Prince Charming, but rather a benevolent benefactor, is Ranga Brossais Doliger, who acquired the domaine in 2018. The previous owner, a Russian businessman, had more or less left it abandoned. The gardens were overgrown and the outbuildings in a state of dilapidation. “It was like the castle in Beauty and the Beast,” Brossais Doliger says, insisting that he didn’t buy it to live there. He already owned another château nearby. Instead, he simply wanted to restore it to its former glory and planned to rent the outbuildings. “When I first visited, I had an uncanny feeling, as if I’d lived there in the past,” he recalls.
この記事は Architectural Digest US の April 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Architectural Digest US の April 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
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Last March, Hermès brought its home universe to life in eye-popping fashion at a one-night-only extravaganza staged at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. The lavish performance featured dozens of dancers showcasing the French luxury house's furniture, tableware, textiles, and decorative objects in elaborately choreographed vignettes that seemed to riff on the unboxing ritual so popular on social media-a supersized spectacle of conjuring magic from ordinary crates. The event also coincided with the 10th anniversary of Charlotte Macaux Perelman and Alexis Fabry's tenure as artistic directors of the Hermès home division.
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