The Château du Verduron also known as the Château des Sphinx owes its original fame to Louis Blouin, who held the prominent position of head valet in the court of Louis XIV of France from 1704 until 1715. Other distinguished owners of the property included Victorien Sardou, the French dramatist and one-time mayor of the Parisian suburb of Marly-le-Roi. The Château du Verduron is located on Place Victorien Sardou in Marly-le-Roi, a commune in the department of Yvelines. Initially a simple one-story structure, it passed through a succession of owners following its original construction. In the early 2000s, it was purchased by SCI Le Verduron. This company commissioned COGEMAD to completely restore the building under the direction of Emad Khashoggi, who also managed the Château Louis XIV project in Louveciennes and the restoration of the Palais Rose in Vésinet. History The history of this property is rich and complex. In the Middle Ages, the current site of the Château du Verduron was occupied by the . The property passed through a succession of owners. Legend has obscured details of the site's history, in part due to some confusion between Jérôme Blouin and his brother Louis, the head valet of King Louis XIV. Some scholars believe that Louis XIV gave a portion of the former seigneurial domain to Louis Blouin, his head valet and the governor of Versailles and Marly, the two major royal castles of the period. Others think that Louis Blouin acquired this property from Léon Bierry, the king's close advisor, who also held the important financial office of contrôleur général des rentes in the Hôtel de Ville. The GRAHAL study of 2002, which was based on notarized documents found in the National Archives and the Departmental Archives of Versailles, refer to Blouin as the owner of the property only after 1726, later than Louis XIV’s death Prior to that date, the property was occupied by the daughter of Léon Bierry and her husband, named Fresson, who was an attorney serving in the parliament of Versailles. The couple apparently made substantial additions to the existing property. In 1722, Fresson’s heirs sold the domain to César-Pierre Landais de Soisel, Louis XIV’s councilor and secretary. He in turn provided a lifetime lease on the property to Blouin in 1726. Blouin left a strong mark on this monument’s history, whatever the precise details of his occupancy there. Described as “the king’s favorite”