The 18th-century home of the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld outside Paris, Manoir de miit’s listed for €2.7 million — or about $3.17 million.
Lagerfeld purchased the property, which was built in 1749 — 40 years before the French Revolution — in late 1986 for an undisclosed price.
At the time, he had been three years into his celebrated position as Chanel’s creative director and the driving force behind the fashion brand’s extraordinary revival. He was also still designing for Fendi and heading up his eponymous label. Lagerfeld died He was 85 years old in 2019.
Lagerfeld owned the property for 10 years.
However, it has also been a venue for fashion shoots, when he personally photographed Inès de la Fressange 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.
In July 1998, Lagerfeld sold the house to a company owned by Prince Ernst August of Hanover and Princess Caroline of Monaco.. The family lived on the property from approximately 2004 to 2010, before they split up. The charming village of Mée-sur-Seine is also where their daughter Charlotte went to school.
“Charlotte painted on the walls and beams [in her bedroom]. When the room was rebuilt, [current] The owners left a small drawing of it. “It’s a nice story,” said listing broker Alexis Vivant, president and founder of the brokerage Bella Paris. Lagerfeld also shot several Chanel campaigns in the estate’s gardens with Tatiana Patitz, Vivant added.
The residence is a classic example of 18th-century French architecture that has been updated – and is located just 31 miles from Paris.
“Manoir du Mée lies at the intersection of classic French architecture and fashion history,” said Vivant. “The house is built on a very pure and symmetrical composition: a central axis, balanced proportions and the rhythm of tall French windows that give the facade a sense of quiet elegance.”
Unlike Lagerfeld’s apartment in Paris, which was “very curated and almost conceptual, this was a place he actually lived and used,” Vivant said. “It served as a country retreat for him, but also as a creative space.”
The seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom home is 5,400 square feet and sits on 1.25 acres.
It is based on the chef’s kitchen which opens onto a dining area facing a large garden. It then extends to “the more intimate spaces, such as the bar, games room and library, reflecting the rhythm of daily life rather than a theatrical environment,” Vivant said.
In addition, the seven bedrooms, all located on the upper floor, have en-suite bathrooms and dressing rooms.
“It’s really a specific place in terms of proportion and light and a certain restraint that feels very French,” Vivant said.
The house, although modernized, still features original details including Versailles parquet floors, intricate moldings and paneling, picture rails, and multiple marble fireplaces.
The property also includes a 2,000-square-foot guest house with three bedrooms and three bathrooms.