In Le Lavandou on Quai Gabriel Péri, stands an imposing building, known as "Le Château". Constructed on the beach a few metres away from the old jetty, it was finished in 1881 after forty years of effort.
Its then owner, Lord Honnoraty, a prosperous herbalist from Toulon (to whom we owe the introduction of the persimmon - Sharon fruit - to France) often used to take a boat from Le Lavandou over to Port-Cros to look for medicinal plants. A great traveller, he took his inspiration from an architectural style inherited from the shores of Lake Garda, which stands out in strong contrast to our Provencal buildings. The stone comes from Tourris, and some of the walls measure no less than 80 cm in thickness.
A terrace was to complete the building in 1930. At the beginning of the century, "Le Château" became a family boarding house, before becoming "Villa Louise" and housing nuns during the 1940 war.
Since, the roads and the port took it further away from the sea. Symbol of the Lavandou that we find on all the old postcards, the Château becomes in 2007 " La Maison du Lavandou" giving shelter to different municipal services.