Saint-Georges-Motel

Saint-Georges-Motel
Commune
Coat of arms of Saint-Georges-Motel
Coat of arms
Location of Saint-Georges-Motel
Map
Saint-Georges-Motel is located in France
Saint-Georges-Motel
Saint-Georges-Motel
Saint-Georges-Motel is located in Normandy
Saint-Georges-Motel
Saint-Georges-Motel
Coordinates: 48°47′37″N 1°22′03″E / 48.7936°N 1.3675°E / 48.7936; 1.3675
CountryFrance
RegionNormandy
DepartmentEure
ArrondissementÉvreux
CantonSaint-André-de-l'Eure
IntercommunalityCA Pays de Dreux
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Jean-Louis Guirlin[1]
Area
1
4.97 km2 (1.92 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
879
 • Density180/km2 (460/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
27543 /27710
Elevation67–132 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.

Saint-Georges-Motel (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ ʒɔʁʒ mɔtɛl]) is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France.[3]

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1962553—    
1968567+2.5%
1975572+0.9%
1982630+10.1%
1990800+27.0%
1999950+18.8%
2008949−0.1%

Notable residents

Jacques Balsan and Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan (formerly the Duchess of Marlborough) in Saint-Georges-Motel.

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]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ Commune de Saint-Georges-Motel (27543), INSEE
  4. ^ a b Mitchell, Heidi (17 August 2017). "A Luxury Real-Estate Proposition". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "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.
  8. ^ Lehrer, Steven (2013). Wartime Sites in Paris: 1939-1945. SF Tafel Publishers. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-4922-9292-0. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  9. ^ Brough, James (1979). Consuelo: Portrait of an American Heiress. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. ISBN 978-0-698-10782-3. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
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