Some places are rich in mystery and astonishing anecdotes. Château des Avenières is one of these places. It was one day in 1904, while out for a walk, that Mary Wallace-Shillito saw and fell in love with the majestic vista of the Salève mountains. A wealthy American heiress living in Geneva, Mary decided to build a house she could retreat to here, in loving memory of her sister Violet, who had died three years previously, in 1901. Construction on the château began in 1907 and took 6 years to complete.
Mary filled the château with a host of rare pieces of furniture that she hand-picked at antique dealers on her trips to Paris. But it was not just antiques dealers that Mary frequented during her stays in the capital, but also the secret underworld of the occult sciences. It was here that she met Assan Dina. The couple married in 1913 and made the Avenières estate their home. The château had all the very latest in mod cons: electric lighting, a telephone, a wireless telegraph station… Assan was an engineer and utilised his skills to bring electricity to the estate and the surrounding communities, a feat he achieved through the clever construction of a small power station by the Usses river, near the Pont de la Caille suspension bridge. His next project was to transform the château’s chapel into a space for practising spirituality. On the walls, he created mosaics representing, according to legend, a giant tarot deck. But Assan didn’t stop there. He also planned to build a giant telescope on the Salève, a project that was of great interest to the scientific community. But, after several setbacks, the project was abandoned. Assan died mysteriously in 1928, on an ocean liner during a cruise near the Suez Canal. For a long time, his wife Mary was accused of his murder, but in the end was cleared of any wrong-doing. Mary went on to remarry Ernest Britt, a pianist, who squandered her fortune. This led Mary to sell the château in 1936, to Mr Guillermin, General Councillor of Savoie, and to divorce Ernest the following year. She died in a tragic accident in 1938.
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Chateau Des Avenieres Franleno Production 4710
Chateau Des Avenieres Franleno Production 4688After buying the château, Mr Guillermin auctioned off the furniture and works of art that Mary had acquired over the years. Between 1939 and 1941, the château was used as a rest home. In 1942, the estate was leased to the Swiss Red Cross, which later became the “Swiss Coalition for Relief to Child War Victims”. In 1949, the château was converted for use as a private school, “Collège de Jully”. The school closed in 1970, with a wealth of famous alumni to its name, including singer-songwriter Jean-Jacques Debout, actor Claude Brasseur, and even prolific criminal Jacques Mesrine. For 10 years, the château lay abandoned, until it was bought by Mr Hausermann, who had an ambitious, highly controversial urbanisation plan to restore it. Unfortunately, the project hit environmental integration issues and could not be completed. In 1994, the estate was put up for sale again and bought by the Odin family. Originally from L’Abergement, in Switzerland, just 3 km from the estate, the family was keen to take on the challenge of restoring the château and its grounds to their former glory. A restaurateur by trade, Nicolas Odin decided to move his business into the exceptional estate, transforming it into a luxury hotel and restaurant. The château became a “Relais et Château” property in November 2014. Nicolas and his wife Laurence ran their highly successful gourmet restaurant in Château des Avenières for an incredible 22 years. But in 2016, the couple embarked on a new venture, creating “M” des Avenières, a chic and trendy bistro that puts its guests and their satisfaction at the very heart of service and quality and its hosts in the very heart of the restaurant, among their guests, for a more personal touch. Today, it is this passion for togetherness and sharing that is the driving force behind this mysterious, timeless and endlessly fascinating place.
Source: chateau-des-avenieres.com and Dominique Ernst/Le Messager.
