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International Herald Tribune</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="Expires" content="0"> <meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Script-Type" content="text/javascript"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-US"> <meta name="ROBOTS" content="INDEX,FOLLOW"> <meta name="description" content="The traffic often slows to a crawl at a zigzag in the road outside of P茅rigueux, France, as tourists try to catch a glimpse of what appears to be the White House perched on a hillside above a grove of trees."> <meta name="keywords" content=""> <meta name="Headline" content="A chateau fit for a president "> <meta name="Subheadline" content=""> <meta name="Page" content="5"> <meta name="Author" content="Michael Johnson"> <meta name="DisplayDate" content="FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2006"> <meta name="PublicationDate" content="2006-09-15"> <meta name="Owner" content=""> <meta name="Summary" content="The traffic often slows to a crawl at a zigzag in the road outside of P茅rigueux, France, as tourists try to catch a glimpse of what appears to be the White House perched on a hillside above a grove of trees."> <meta name="Section" content="opinion"> <meta name="Location" content="BORDEAUX, France"> <meta name="Path" content="/articles/2006/09/15/opinion/edjohnson.php"> <meta name="ArticleId" content="2827813"> <meta name="PrintPubDate" content="2006-09-16"> <meta name="Edition" content="2">  <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250js_/http://www.iht.com/js/cookie.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250js_/http://www.iht.com/js/clippings.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250js_/http://www.iht.com/js/halfpagelayout.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" 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valign="top">  <table width="421" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tr> <td width="421"> <h1> <span class="click" id="/articles/2006/09/15/opinion/edjohnson.php" onclick="javascript:addClipping('/articles/2006/09/15/opinion/edjohnson.php','A chateau fit for a president ',this);"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250im_/http://www.iht.com/images/icon/clipping.gif" width="10" height="10" border="0" hspace="2" alt=""> </span> A chateau fit for a president </h1> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="421" align="left" valign="top"> <span class="text"><strong>Michael Johnson</strong> </span><br> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250im_/http://www.iht.com/images/article/spacer.gif" width="5" height="5" border="0" alt=""><br>  <span class="text2">Published: September 15, 2006</span><br> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="421"> <div class="b3"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250im_/http://www.iht.com/images/icon/null.gif" alt=""></div> <div class="dL"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250im_/http://www.iht.com/images/icon/null.gif" alt=""></div> <div class="b3"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250im_/http://www.iht.com/images/icon/null.gif" alt=""></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="421">  <div id="articleBody" class="artText">   <strong>BORDEAUX, France</strong> The traffic often slows to a crawl at a zigzag in the road outside of Périgueux, France, as tourists try to catch a glimpse of what appears to be the White House perched on a hillside above a grove of trees.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> What they're seeing is the Château de Rastignac, whose origins have long been the subject of detective work and debate among architectural historians.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> Last year the chateau was born again - refurbished as five luxury apartments owned by five Dutch families. This is the first time it has been occupied since the 1940s.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> What continues to puzzle the experts is the design. The chateau and the White House are too similar to have developed coincidentally.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> Some historians believe Rastignac (1817) is simply a replica of the White House (1802), and the dates of completion would seem to support that.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> Others contend the reverse - far more likely, in my view - that the chateau was the model on which Thomas Jefferson based architectural revisions of the White House during his two terms as president.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> Some years ago, while the chateau was still vacant, I started my personal investigation by driving up the cobblestone lane to seek an audience with the owner, who lived in an adjacent house. He greeted me warmly and walked me over to the chateau. There he pulled out an ancient key and unlocked the creaky front door.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> My first shock was the feeling of emptiness. It was a mere shell of a chateau, supported inside by timbers to prevent the roof and walls from collapsing. Rastignac had suffered a brutal fate in 1944 as a fleeing German SS squad tried to demolish it as punishment for French Résistance action in the area.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> "They torched it with phosphorus. The fires burned for five days," the owner told me. "It was a great tragedy."<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> The chateau sat abandoned for eight years until the French were able to collect partial war restitution from the Germans. The funds covered only structural reinforcement and roofing.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> The owner firmly believed the French chateau had inspired plans for the White House, but he couldn't prove it. Instead he directed me to the Société Historique et Archéologique du Périgord, where I discovered that the architect was Mathurin Salat and construction work had been undertaken before the French Revolution of 1789. The project was interrupted for nearly 20 years during the turbulence of the Revolution and the Napoleonic era.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> Thomas Jefferson was in France as U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary when work on the chateau began. Among his sidelines was a passion for architecture, and he travelled around France viewing the great edifices of the 17th and 18th centuries. An amateur architect himself, he intended to create an American school for his expanding young country, based on European examples.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> Jefferson toured the Bordeaux region in the spring of 1789, the eve of the revolution. This would have been the occasion for a look at the drawings for the Château de Rastignac. With a small leap of faith, it is easy to imagine that these drawings inspired the future American president's additions.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> He returned home in the fall of 1789 and went on to be elected third American president in 1801. "President's House" became his residence.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> As he always did, he set about transforming the mansion, adding the south portico and columns that have become a familiar symbol of the United States.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> His plans were signed off in 1806 and work was completed by the end of his presidency in 1809.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> In France, the Marquis de Rastignac eventually revived his chateau project, probably in 1811, most likely unaware of being overtaken by work on President's House in Washington.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> His chateau was essentially finished in 1817 and he lived there until his death in 1833. Much loved in the Périgord, his funeral attracted 3,000 mourners.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> Lacking proof that Jefferson set foot on the construction site of the chateau, we are left with circumstantial evidence. But it is at least possible that Jefferson redid the White House in the image of the Château de Rastignac.<div style="visibility:hidden"> </div> <em></em><div style="visibility:hidden"> </div>   </div> <div id="articleParent"></div>  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="421" background="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250im_/http://www.iht.com/images/article/dotted_prevnext.gif">  <img id="prev" name="prev" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250im_/http://www.iht.com/images/icon/prevCool.gif" width="71" height="12" border="0" align="left" class="prevImage" alt="previous" onclick="javascript:prevPage();" onmouseover="prevPageOver();" onmouseout="javascript:hidePrevPageOver();"> <img id="next" name="next" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20070314011250im_/http://www.iht.com/images/icon/nextCool.gif" width="71" height="12" border="0" align="right" class="nextImage" alt="next" onclick="javascript:nextPage();" onmouseover="nextPageOver();" onmouseout="javascript:hideNextPageOver();">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="421" align="center"> <script type="text/javascript"> google_ad_client = "ca-iht_js"; 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