Chateau St. Philippe was originally a priory (also known as a monastery) built at St. Jean in 1032-1033 by the Benedictine monks of St. Andre Le Bas and was named St. Ours.  The property was given to the monks by Queen Ermengarde, the wife of Rudolphe III of Burgundy,  in 1032. There was a small church on the property at the time of the gift.

St. Ours was furnished with many relics brought from the Orient by Nanthelme of Miolans, the Archbishop of Patris who died on April 18th 1243.

In 1334 St. Ours became known as St. Philippe De La Porte, which literally means St. Philippe of the door.  The name came from the remains of St. Philippe, which were kept at the priory and the gateway that was on the property between the priory and the barn where the monks collected tolls of travelers who passed through on the avenue that still exists at the top of the orchard.  Later the village of St. Jean took its modern day name of St. Jean De La Porte from the same tollgate at the priory.

Much of France was under the control of Henry VI of England by the 1400’s, but in February of 1420 a papal decree confirms that the priory of St. Philippe belonged to the monks of St. Andre Le Bas.

By 1370 the church and cloister had fallen into disrepair and it would be almost 90 years before the property was restored.  In 1458 the head priest, Jean the second of Grolee, reconstructed St. Philippe in flamboyant style.  In April of 1458 the Archbishop of Grenoble consecrated three altars and authenticated the arm and head of St. Philippe, which were contained in a silver chase at the priory.  St. Philippe’s remains were last seen in September of 1673.

In 1591 the priory was unified to the Jesuit College of Chambery.  The college was actually a secondary school.

The man who did the drawing shown on this page was named Martellange.  Apparently the black marble from Priory de Saint Jean de la Porte was quarried from the chateau property by the Jesuits from about 1584.  The same marble was used in the restoration of Notre Dame from 1630 to 1646 led by Martellange.

After the suppression of the Jesuit order in July of 1773 the priory passed to the l’Eco-nomat Royal.  Twenty years later St. Philippe becomes a national treasure belonging of the French Republic.  It is at this time that the St. Philippe has its two towers facing St. Pierre decapitated. The Mayor and Notary, Jean Francois Courtois, installed his office at St. Philippe before selling the property on the 15th of February 1795 to the chief engineer of the Ponts et Chausses (bridges and roads), Claude Charles Mongenet, who died in 1821.  His son, Charles Benjamin, a lawyer in Grenoble, resold it in 1823 to Marie Geanne-Emerentienne, the daughter of Pierre-Louis of Lescheraine and the widow of Louis Favier du Noyer for 100,000 livres (pounds).

Marie Geanne-Emerentienne had previously owned the Chateau Manjoux in St. Pierre, which is visible from St. Philippe today.  Unfortunately most of the money for the purchase of St. Philippe was borrowed and in 1828 Marie was forced to sell St. Philippe to repay the debt. 

The new owner,  Barron Charles-Albert Favier du Noyer, Count of Chambost from Lyon, took  possession of the chateau on June 22nd, 1828.  Thirteen days later the Count bought the Chateau Palud in same community.

It was the count of Chambost who changed the old priory into a chateau.  He demolished the west half, including the chapel and rebuilt the east towers, enclosed the second floor with a gallery in wood, and built the terrace dominating the valley making the monastic rooms agreeable to live in.  The current church located in St. Jean De La Porte was built from the stone of the demolished church at St. Philippe. 

His daughter, married to one of the Certeau, inherited St. Philippe in 1873, but a judiciary sale took place in 1886 and the family Perriere acquired the chateau.  St. Philippe passes from the Perriere family to Marie-Therese Martin, who is also Ms. Pierre-Gross and the great niece of Perriere. She lived from 1905 to 1988.  After the death of Ms. Pierre-Grosse in 1988, the chateau was purchased by an Italian national and the chateau had again fallen into a state of disrepair until the beginning of the 21st century.

In 2001, an American family purchased the Chateau St. Phillip. Since that time the chateau has undergone a complete restoration.  Chateau St. Philippe has recently emerged from a two and a half year restoration project, which brought the chateau back to its former glory.  This restoration has been tastefully done to represent the best of its historical past with all the modern touches that help preserve and protect it for generations to come.