Photo : Patrick.charpiat / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Maison carrée d'Arlac
The Maison Carrée d'Arlac, also called Château Peychotte, is a Neoclassical folly in the commune of Mérignac, in the Gironde. It was built from 1785 to 1789 for the Jewish banker of Portuguese origin Samuel Charles Peixotto, whose name was gallicised as Peixotte or Peychotte. The design is attributed to the architect Dufart.
The building was listed as a historic monument in 1983. It overlooked a landscaped park that was still almost intact at the start of the 1980s but has since been largely eaten into by property development. After many years of neglect and several projects coveting its large park, the badly deteriorated villa was finally bought in 1990 by the town of Mérignac, which undertook its restoration.
