Château Burrus
THE ABANDONED CASTLE IN FRANCE
‘Château Burrus’ also known as ‘Manoir à la Verrière’ or ‘Château Lumiere’ is an abandoned castle hidden in a quiet French town Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines.
Château Burrus is a neo-baroque style mansion built in 1905 by Maurice Burrus, a wealthy tobacco manufacturer and industrialist of Swiss descent.
The villa is the Burrus family home. During my visit, the château is still in immaculate condition. Impressive is the ornate stairway, leading up to a glowing sky-lit lounge. Additionally, the 900 m² residence counts approximately thirty rooms. The architects are two Alsatians who both studied in Stuttgart and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Jules Berninger and his brother-in-law Gustave Krafft.
During the Second World War, the castle is taken over by the German Army, they transformed into a training center for SS officers.
After the owner died in the late 1950s, the château was sold several times to a private party. But today the building is left abandoned due to the expensive work for the maintenance of the mansion. The building has been listed as a historic monument since 1993. However, its future remains uncertain. These photos of ‘Manoir à la Verrière’ were taken in 2013. Follow this link for more abandoned castles.
UPDATE 2022: The castle was sold in 2020 and eventually restored to its old glory in 2022.
