List of Sites of Special Interest
Review of Château La Chaire Hotel & Gardens, La Vallee de Rozel, St. Martin
This report has been prepared by the Jersey Heritage Trust as part of its responsibility under a Service Level Agreement to provide reports and recommendations to the Minister for Planning and Environment on the registration of historic buildings and sites.
The Planning and Environment Department requested on 19 July 2007 that the Jersey Heritage Trust assess the architectural, historical and other interests of Château La Chaire ahead of discussions with the Ministerial Registration and Listing Advisory Group.
Author of report: Roger Hills BA(Hons) MA DipBldgCons (RICS) IHBC Curator of Historic Buildings
Date of report: 22 August 2007
File ref: MN0121
Relevant interests of the site (see schedule for detail)
Château La Chaire Hotel was included in the first historic buildings register, published in August 1992. The Jersey Building Heritage Sub-Committee upgraded the property to a pSSI on 30 September 2002.
Château La Chaire Hotel & Gardens are considered to be of special architectural, historical and archaeological interest.
The hotel is a large country house designed in the Arts and Crafts style c.1920 - one of the finest examples in Jersey. The hotel is set within extensive and historic gardens that were landscaped principally between 1841 and 1860. The gardens were created by Samuel Curtis, a renowned Victorian horticulturalist.
Advice received (MRLAG or others)
The special interest of the site was considered by MRLAG at its meeting on 13 August 2007. Members unanimously agreed that Château La Chaire Hotel & Gardens should be listed as a Site of Special Interest. The extent of the gardens to be incorporated was discussed and all members agreed that the heavily landscaped gardens to the north of the hotel should be included. Some views were expressed that the area of the gardens on the south side of the valley should also be considered for inclusion within the SSI.
JHT recommendation
Château La Chaire Hotel is one of the finest houses in the Arts and Crafts style in Jersey. The nineteenth century gardens are also of historic and architectural significance and it is recommended that the principal area of landscaping and construction - the north garden with its gateways, terraces, steps and paths that that lead to and from the hotel - should be included within the SSI. Other parts of the former gardens have since lost their cohesion being subsumed into other properties, or were much less intensively landscaped, and it is proposed that they remain outside of the SSI.
It is recommended that the Minister for Planning and Environment:
- confirm the intention to List Château La Chaire Hotel & Gardens, as defined in the attached schedule, as a Site of Special Interest under the provisions of Article 51(2)(b) Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 by virtue of its special interest as described in the same schedule;
- approve the serving of the Intention to List Notice in accord with the requirements of the Law
Justification relating to criteria
The special interest of Château La Chaire Hotel & Gardens, as defined and assessed relative to the published criteria for selection, justifies its inclusion on the List of Sites of Special Interest in accordance with the provisions and purposes of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002.
Attachments
- SSI schedule & plan
- Photographs
- Extract from the Samuel Curtis Garden Project website
Board of Trustees
Chairman: Jurat John de Veulle OBE Vice-Chairman: Philip Le Brocq
Rowland Anthony, Geoffrey Crill, Connétable Simon Crowcroft, Blair Gould, Clive Jones, Deputy Carolyn Labey, Paul Nicolle, Jane Stubbs,
Jonathan Voak