Story of the Chateau Mercy
Battle-scarred Chateau Mercy-les-Metz, which serves as the main administration building at Canada’s NATO Air Division Headquarters, is located on a rise of land about four and one-half miles outside Metz, probably the most heavily fortified city in Europe.
With more than a thousand years of recorded history behind its original counterpart, "Chateau Mercy"; stands in the middle of Europe’s traditional invasion route.
It has been established that a Roman villa occupied the strategic site during the third century AD. However, the first written history relates that in 926 AD it was a feudal estate and the seat of High, Middle and Low courts for the district.
From 1404 to 1906 the estate passed from one aristocratic French family to another, being burned to the ground twice and rebuilt twice during this period. After the last fire in 1870, only the private chapel, built in 1626, remained standing. This was renovated in 1955 and is now used for regular worship by RCAF Roman Catholic personnel.
It wasn’t until 1905 that the chateau was rebuilt. This was done by an eccentric noblewoman who couldn’t afford to live in the showpiece – the interior of which combines magnificent woodwork, statuary and marble decoration. She sold it to the State. At the outbreak of the First World War, the stately old chateau saw duty as an equipment storehouse.
During the Second World War, the French Army occupied the buildings but Metz fell to the Germans, who utilized the chateau as a military hospital. Later, Americans took it over briefly, and in post-war years the estate became a holiday camp for the children of French Army personnel.
When Canada’s Air Division overseas began expanding in 1952, a planning team sought a headquarters location easily accessible to the various planned RCAF units on the Continent. Their ultimate choice was the Chateau Mercy.
The Canadian Headquarters moved from Paris to Metz in April 1953, at which time the entire 35-acre estate had only four buildings on it: The Chateau, in which renovations were nearly complete; the coach house, tenable but unprepossessing; the lodge at the entrance of the estate, which had no floors and virtually no roof; and the chapel.
Besides the original four buildings, all of which are in daily use, ten new buildings have been constructed. These include barrack blocks, messes, office and supply space and a modern mobile equipment garage.
But the gracious architecture of the Chateau Mercy itself isn't ignored. In the main conference room - probably designed as a ballroom - high-ranking military and civilian visitors often confer with the Air Officer Commanding of the Air Division.
The Chateau's shell-pocketed exterior, however, still offers a grin reminder of fierce wartime fighting.
