1725

Domaine du Grand Malagny

Classified as a cultural and historical heritage of the city of Geneva, the Grand-Malagny domain, was created between 1725 and 1752 by the Saladin brothers, and owes its architecture to the entrepreneur Jean-Louis Bovet.

Majestically oriented facing the lake and Mont-Blanc, the estate takes the name of the hamlet for which it has replaced. As early as 1725, the three Saladin brothers set out to buy all the land and houses in the hamlet in order to constitute a single large estate. Jean-Louis Saladin, a skilled diplomat, better known under the name of Saladin d'Onex, that the property belongs and to whom we owe the domain as it still appears today: a large mansion which is profiled in the long perspective of arrival, punctuated by a succession of rectangular courtyards, the agricultural courtyard, framed by its outbuildings, and the masters' courtyard.
This complex, built between 1754 and 1757, is attributed to the entrepreneur and architect Jean-Louis Bovet. The estate, sold to the Marcet family in the 19th century, then fell to a nephew at the beginning of the 20th century, Count Horace de Pourtalès, who was none other than the younger brother of the writer Guy de Pourtalès. The large rural outbuildings, symmetrically located on either side of the first courtyard, testify to the important agricultural activity inherent in this type of domain, which is also adorned with vast gardens.