In this hottest month of October … we’re also thinking about Halloween … and Halloween means haunted castles… The one I’m going to tell you about today may not have it, but it hasn’t had much luck since it was built. Abandoned by its owner after living there for only 4 years.
The story of the construction of this chateau, perched on the heights of Bidart near Biarritz, is quite a story. Its owner, a gentle dreamer (or even a raving lunatic), spent astronomical sums on “his house” at the top of the hill… “le chateau d’Ilbarritz”.
A house of records, as told by
Chistophe Lurashi in his book ALBERT DE L’ESPEE published by Atlantica July 2023
Where we discover that this music lover had a monumental organ built, the 3rd largest in France after those of Saint Sulpice and Notre Dame de Paris… Here’s the rub… the Baron sold the house before ever having played a single Sonata in it! And to cap it all, it was dismantled and moved to Montmartre.
Indoor seawater pools and a power plant
To take modernity a step further, our modernity-crazed Baron had heated, jet-powered sea pools built inside the chateau, a veritable rejuvenation bath… and all powered by the first private electricity plant in the Basque country…
Le chateau D’ilbarritz and its little quirks: Kitchen smells bother him? He’s building his office on the beach!
And that’s how the famous BLUE CARGO was born! The soooo chic establishment on the Basque coast is simply the former kitchen of the chateau planted on the beach, served by a tunnel, we had to work fast to get the dishes hot to our eccentric’s table!
I could also tell you about the people who bothered him, like his mistress, whom he kept close by, but whom he flanked in another very pretty house on the coast, Biana Duhamel’s villa des sables... So he had all the amenities without the inconveniences of everyday life in those days… so before the telephone …. HOP! he would hoist a flag… and Madame would quickly – quickly – arrive at the chateau of our hurluberlu!
The house, which has had several owners over the years, has withstood violent winds and various types of damage, and seems to have finally found a buyer in Bruno Ledoux, who will shortly be launching work to bring this exceptional house back to life.
Information gathered on Cotebasque.net
