Vaux le Vicomte is an enormous estate with a carriage building the size of a small town. fancy schmancy grounds designed by andre lenotre.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05.

Le Nôtre, André


(äNdr´ ln´tr) (KEY) , 1613–1700, French landscape architect. Lenôtre’s first important design, the park of Vaux-le-Vicomte, attracted the attention of Louis XIV, who then entrusted to him the direction of nearly all the royal parks and gardens. He brought to full development that type of spacious formal garden, characterized by extensive unbroken vistas, that so accurately expressed the grandeur of his period. The gardens of the palace of Versailles are his most celebrated work. In 1664 he transformed the palace gardens of the Tuileries. He also designed parks for Saint-Cloud, Marly-le-Roi, Chantilly, Fontainebleau, and Saint-Germain-en-Laye. His principles in garden design dominated throughout Europe until the rise of the English school of informal and naturalistic gardens.


"first formal dining room used regularly in the western world", said the tour audio. did someone take a census?