Presentation

The estate known as Corsy (Chaplin Park), which includes the present municipal building, extends across the western half of the terrace whose eastern part is occupied by Le Châtelard. From the 18th century onwards, Corsy passed successively to the banker Aimé Grenier, brother of the assesseur baillival of Vevey, then to François-Louis de Tavel, bailli of Vevey, and finally to the Couvreu family, which from then on owned the two adjoining estates. According to the date engraved on the lintel of a door in the winegrowing outbuilding, this group of three buildings – the manor house, the rural outbuildings and the winegrowing dependencies – was built around 1655.
The manor house underwent a complete restoration completed in 1838, in which the prominent Vevey architect Franel – probably Philippe, mentioned in 1840 and 1843 in connection with works at the church of Corsier-sur-Vevey – may have taken part. It appears, however, to have been altered once more during the second half of the 19th century, perhaps around 1897, when the Couvreu family remodelled its southern façade by constructing the terrace with a neo-classical balustrade and the pavilion.
The manor house, rectangular in plan, is topped by a hipped roof with a series of dormer windows. The two residential floors above the cellars have, on both the north and south sides, four rectangular windows per floor, the closer spacing of the central pair creating a suggestion of a projecting section. The horizontal lines are strongly emphasised, first by a moulded stringcourse centred within a wide band running along three of the four façades, and second by the cornice decorated with modillions crowning each side. The band and the cornice divide the two storeys while continuing uninterrupted across the quoin stones that highlight the vertical structure of the façades.
The eastern entrance door is reached via a porch and a straight flight of steps flaring at its base. To the west remains the chamfered round-arched doorway giving access to the cellars, possibly dating from 1655. The outbuildings also preserve several early openings: the door dated 1655 and the two windows flanking it, the barn door and several narrow loophole-style apertures.
The interior layout of the manor house, highly symmetrical, features rooms arranged on either side of a longitudinal corridor. Noteworthy elements include a buffet front dating from 1658 and a tiled stove with painted tiles, probably from the 1770s.
This manor house is of considerable interest within 19th-century regional architecture, even though its exact date remains uncertain, all the more so if the hypothesis of architect Philippe Franel’s involvement in the 1838 works proves correct.