Mansions and private mansions to visit Martinique

On the heights of Bellefontaine, a strange ship's prow dominates the town. The story goes that a certain Mr. Dubois was behind this strange dwelling, inspired by the modernist architecture of the time. Completed in 1948, this second home took the name Torgiléo from the first names of the Dubois family (Victor the designer, Virginie his wife, Leo their son). The interior is fitted out like a ship, with cabins and a promenade deck. If this private house cannot be visited, it promises some nice shots!

The Habitation Sucrerie, refered to as a “château” (castle) by the locals, was acquired in 1788 by Jean-François Hayot; it was then the most important house in the commune.
Built on 200 m², it was constructed during the second half of the 18^th century. Its architecture is particularly original. It is characterized by a gallery on the north and south sides, a first floor narrower than the ground floor and, most original of all, an entrance on the side of the kitchen. As it should be, it dominates the village. About a hundred slaves were involved in running the place. A vestige of a cattle mill, rehabilitated into a coal oven, the basin of a spring already used by the Natives, the master's house below are the silent witnesses of the rough life of yesteryear. A family tradition runs along the old stones of the distillery and whispers that Arlet himself lived there. God only knows… Built in the second half of the 18^th century, the building, entirely made of wood and bricks, seems to have been put to sleep by a nasty twist of fate. However, in an outbuilding adjoining the old, but no less famous kitchen of Père Labat, a community of white angels preserves the place. Here is the vegetable garden, formed by a masonry block, a storage space for the “potins” (cast iron container to hold the embers). There, the square well dating from 1914, a little further on a stone crucifix and, in the middle of a blue-painted Ave Maria, is a flowery grotto where Our Lady of Lourdes rests.