A classic French manor house outside Paris with Irish royalty and high fashion connections is seeking a new owner. Within an hour of the city, the gated property comes with a guesthouse and great bragging rights.
Pics: Matteo Merea / PylaParis.fr
All homes tell the story of their owners. The classic Manoir du Mée, outside Paris, is a storied house.
It was once the home of a haute couture fashion designer, who also used it as a shoot location.
Address: Manoir du Mée, Le Mée-sur-Seine, Seine-et-Marne, 77350, France
Asking price: €2.7 million
Agent: Pyla Paris
Luxe fashion house campaigns featuring a Chanel muse and a supermodel were both shot here, and when the designer tired of it, it was sold to a good friend of his, a member of the House of Grimaldi, the Monaco royal family, whose mother was Princess Grace, the Irish American actress beloved by film director Alfred Hitchcock.
Picture the scene. Late in 1986, when Kaiser Karl Lagerfeld was at the height of his powers, he purchased the Manoir du Mée as his country retreat.
Set on the outskirts of the charming village of Le Mée-sur-Seine on the right bank of the river Seine, it was just a 40-kilometre drive, an hour away from the City of Light.
He was three years into his role as Chanel’s creative director and the force behind the fashion label’s extraordinary revival.
He was still double-jobbing, designing for Fendi and also head of his own eponymous label.
It was to be his country retreat, an escape from the madness of the fashion fraternity.
Now for sale through Pyla Paris, the gated property includes the main house, a seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom residence of about 500 square metres.
Sitting on 1.25 acres of grounds, it includes a three-bedroom, three-bathroom guesthouse that measures 180 square metres.
By the time Lagerfeld acquired the property, he already owned a château in Brittany and the Villa La Vigie on the Côte d’Azur.
Kaiser Karl, as the glossies christened him, was an avid collector of art, design, books, and property.
Thirteen of his homes were revisited by Patrick Mauriès and Marie Kalt in the 2023 book, Décors d'une vie, which traced his life lived through interiors.
In Paris, the residences ranged from a pared-back apartment on the Rue de l’Université in Paris to the grand Hôtel Pozzo di Borgo, whose former owner inspired the film The Intouchables, and an apartment on Place Saint-Sulpice in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
There was also the Pavillon de Voisins in Louveciennes, where he is said to have spent just a single night, the sleek Le Roccabella in Monaco, and the country retreat.
Built in 1749, the Manoir du Mée is a refined example of classical French architecture, defined by its strict symmetry and sense of proportion.
The house marries this heritage with a more recent, creative, and celebrity legacy.
The property was also the setting for fashion shoots.
He personally photographed Inès de la Fressange here for Chanel campaigns.
At the time, she was his muse, the face of Chanel, and the model for the official bust of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic.
Several Chanel campaigns were shot in the estate’s gardens with Tatjana Patitz, one of the original supermodels, the big-earning names of the 1990s.
She, along with Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, and Naomi Campbell, graced the cover of an era-defining British Vogue cover in 1990, which was photographed by Peter Lindbergh.
They also appeared in George Michael’s music video for his song, Freedom 90.
In July 1998, Lagerfeld sold the home to a company owned by Prince Ernst August of Hanover, who was Princess Caroline of Monaco’s third husband at the time.
The eldest child of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Irish-American actress Grace Kelly, a muse to film director Alfred Hitchcock. Kelly bought her family’s homestead outside Newport, Co Mayo, in 1976, and it remains within the family.
As the elder sister of Prince Albert II, Caroline served as the de facto first lady of Monaco for nearly three decades and remains a prominent figure in European royalty.
She was a personal friend of Lagerfeld’s and lived with her family in the property from around 2004 to 2010, before the couple split.
It was where their daughter Charlotte went to school.
“Charlotte drew on the walls and beams [in her bedroom]. When the room was redone, the [current] owners left a little drawing of hers. It’s a cute story,” said listing agent Alexis Feyfant, president and founder of the agency Pyla Paris.
The property is now on the market through the estate agency, seeking €2.7 million.
“What makes the Manoir du Mée particularly compelling is not just its provenance, but its balance,” Feyfanyt explains.
“Architecturally, it’s a very pure 18th-century composition: symmetrical with beautiful proportions and a rhythm of large windows that bring in a lot of natural light.
“Inside, it strikes a rare balance between a true family home and a place designed for entertaining, with a natural flow from more social spaces to more intimate rooms.
“What I find especially interesting is that nothing feels overdone; the original elements, Versailles parquet floors, mouldings, and marble fireplaces have been preserved.
"It gives the house a sense of authenticity that is increasingly hard to find.
“And beyond that, there is a certain atmosphere, the way the light moves through the house, the connection to the garden, it’s a place that feels lived in, not staged. That, in my opinion, is what really makes it stand out.”
Lagerfeld passed away at age 85 in 2019. He left his estimated €200 million fortune to a close circle of confidants and his cat, Choupette. Currently, his will is being contested.
