Karl Lagerfeld’s former estate near Paris lists for $3.17M with charming old-world touches intact

The late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld’s former 18th-century estate outside Paris, Manoir du Mée, has listed for €2.7 million — or around $3.17 million. 

Lagerfeld purchased the property, which was built in 1749 — 40 years before the French Revolution — in late 1986 for an undisclosed price.

At the time, he was three years into his celebrated role as Chanel’s creative director and the force behind the fashion label’s extraordinary revival. He was also still designing for Fendi and head of his own eponymous label. Lagerfeld passed away at age 85 in 2019.

Lagerfeld owned the estate for 10 years.

That said, it was also the setting for fashion shoots, when he personally photographed Inès de la Fressange for Chanel campaigns. At the time, she was his muse, the face of Chanel and the model for the official bust of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic.

In July 1998, Lagerfeld sold the home to a company owned by Prince Ernst August of Hanover and Princess Caroline of Monaco. The family lived in the property from around 2004 to 2010, before their split. The charming village of Mée-sur-Seine is also where their daughter Charlotte went to school.

“Charlotte drew on the walls and beams [in her bedroom]. When the room was redone, the [current] owners left a little drawing of hers. It’s a cute story,” said listing broker, Alexis Feyfant, president and founder of the brokerage firm Pyla Paris. Feyfant added that Lagerfeld also shot several Chanel campaigns in the estate’s gardens with Tatjana Patitz. 

The residence is a classic example of 18th-century French architecture, updated — and just 31 miles from Paris.

“The Manoir du Mée sits at the intersection of classical French architecture and fashion history,” Feyfant said. “The house is built on a very pure, symmetrical composition: a central axis, balanced proportions and a rhythm of tall French windows that gives the façade a sense of quiet elegance.”

Unlike Lagerfeld’s Paris apartment, which was “highly curated and almost conceptual, this was a place he actually lived in and used,” Feyfant said. “It functioned as his countryside retreat, but also as a creative space.”

The seven-bedroom, 10-bath gated home is 5,400 square feet and sits on 1.25 acres.

It is anchored by a chef’s kitchen that opens to a dining area facing a large park. It then extends to “the more intimate spaces, like the bar, game room and library — reflecting a rhythm of daily life rather than a staged environment,” Feyfant said. 

The home, while modernized, still boasts original details including Versailles parquet floors, intricate moldings and paneling, picture rails and multiple marble fireplaces. 

The estate also includes a 2,000-square-foot guest house with three bedrooms and three baths.