Saint-Georges-Motel
Saint-Georges-Motel
Commune in Normandy, France
Saint-Georges-Motel (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ ʒɔʁʒ mɔtɛl]) is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France.[3]
Saint-Georges-Motel | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates: 48°47′37″N 1°22′03″E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Normandy |
| Department | Eure |
| Arrondissement | Évreux |
| Canton | Saint-André-de-l'Eure |
| Intercommunality | CA Pays de Dreux |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Jean-Louis Guirlin[1] |
| Area 1 | 4.97 km2 (1.92 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[2] | 879 |
| • Density | 180/km2 (460/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 27543 /27710 |
| Elevation | 67–132 m (220–433 ft) (avg. 120 m or 390 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | 553 | — |
| 1968 | 567 | +2.5% |
| 1975 | 572 | +0.9% |
| 1982 | 630 | +10.1% |
| 1990 | 800 | +27.0% |
| 1999 | 950 | +18.8% |
| 2008 | 949 | −0.1% |
The early 17th-century Château Saint-Georges-Motel, is a 10,000-square-foot castle surrounded by a moat on a 235-acre property that includes eighteen outbuildings. King Henry IV spent the night on the estate before winning the Battle of Ivry that united France.[4]
In the 1920s,[5] the château was purchased as a summer house by American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt when she was married to the French aviator and industrialist Jacques Balsan,[6] after her divorce from Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough.[7] While Consuelo owned the château, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was a frequent visitor.[8] Vanderbilt's ownership of the château inspired her mother, Alva Belmont to purchase the Château d'Augerville.[9]
The château was listed for sale for $8.21 million in 2017 by its then owners, Catherine Hamilton, president of the American Friends of Versailles, and her husband, David Hamilton, a Houston-raised, Chicago-based businessman. They purchased the château in the late 1980s for $6 million.[4]
- "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
- Mitchell, Heidi (17 August 2017). "A Luxury Real-Estate Proposition". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- Balsan, Consuela Vanderbilt (2012). The Glitter and the Gold: The American Duchess---in Her Own Words. Macmillan. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-250-01718-5. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- Soames, Mary (2012). A Daughter's Tale: The Memoir of Winston Churchill's Youngest Child. Random House Publishing Group. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-679-64518-4. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- "HISTORIC CHATEAU FIGURES IN SALE; Abondant, Famous Seigneurie Near Paris, Dates Back More Than 300 Years" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 September 1937. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- Lehrer, Steven (2013). Wartime Sites in Paris: 1939-1945. SF Tafel Publishers. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-4922-9292-0. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- Brough, James (1979). Consuelo: Portrait of an American Heiress. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. ISBN 978-0-698-10782-3. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
