Villa Marguerite-Yourcear — Wikipedia

The villa Marguerite-Yourcenar or Villa du Mont-Noir is a neo-Norman style manor, built in the 1930s in the domain of the old Dufresne castle, destroyed during the First World War. Property of the Dufresne family since its construction in 1824 by Amable Dufresne, the novelist and academician Marguerite Yourcenar lived in this castle belonging to the family of her mother the first nine years of her life, from 1903 to 1912.

The villa is located in a departmental park of forty hectares, on Mont-Noir (Monts des Flandres) in Saint-Jans-Cappel, in French Flanders. In 1997, it was converted into “Center for residence for European writers” . Labeled Maisons des Illustres, its park is classified as a sensitive natural area. It is connected to the Marguerite-Yourcenar museum.

The Château du Mont-Noir was built in 1824, at the request of Amable Dufresne (1801-1875) ^{[ first ]} .

Unlike therefore what Marguerite Yourcenar writes in Northern Archives , this castle was not built by its ancestor Charles-Augustin Cleenewerck ^{[ 2 ]} .

There remains the property of the Dufresne family until the death of his daughter, Noémi Dufresne, in 1909. On that date, he was transmitted to the son of her, Michel Cleenewck de Crayencour, father of Marguerite Yourcenar. He sold it in 1913, just a few years after inheriting ^{[ 3 ]} .

Born in 1903, Marguerite Yourcenar lost her mother, Fernande de Cartier de Marchienne, ten days after her birth. She was then raised by her paternal grandmother Noémi Dufresne (1828-1909), widow of Michel-Charles Cleenewerck de Crayencour (1822-1886), and lives every summer at Château Dufresne.

During the First World War, on the orders of King George V, the house was transformed into staff by the English army. The castle, just like the guards’ house, is destroyed during the fighting. He will never be rebuilt ^{[ 3 ]} .

In the early 1930s, the rich industrialist Armentierois Henri Coisne Dansette bought the estate to have a neo-Normand style manor built. The house remains in his family until the 1950s ^{[ 3 ]} .

In 1980 and 1982 Marguerite Yourcenar made a visit to Saint-Jans-Cappel and returned in 1986 to visit the museum dedicated to him.

In 1997 the General Council of the North (owner of the former family domain of the Dufresne family) developed a “center of residence of European writers”.

The “Marguerite-Yourcenar departmental park” of 8 ha is classified as a sensitive natural area at the request of the novelist who wanted to make a nature reserve, doomed to the protection of trees and animals which were its most loyal love.

In the month of June of each year, the festival “by mountains and words” take place with on the program: book fair, readings, theater, writing competition, workshops, debates, meetings, etc.

Villa Marguerite-Yourcenar is connected by a path to the Marguerite-Yourcenar museum.