In May 2020, when he visited the Château de Villars for the first time, it was love at first sight. Love at first sight for the reflection of a tower in a pond in the park; love at first sight for the sight which lets see, beyond the Rhone, the Mont-Blanc; love at first sight for the dining room, again with its period table which gives all the dimension, all the soul of this building from another time.
A masterpiece in peril
Yannick Crespin immediately saw that his hotel project could fit perfectly into this place steeped in history. However, the building, partly inhabited, is in a state of disrepair. All the roofs take in the water which flows inside and that of the tower, in glazed tiles, crumbles. One of the…