The Enchanted Grande Maison of Yore, Lost in Time in the Charming Town of

Long ago, in the year 1772, under the watchful gaze of the moon, the Grande Maison sprouted along the Rue Jules Thirel, in the heart of the captivating town of Saint-Paul. Constructed by the Ministry of the Marine and Colonies, this grand edifice was originally an hospital for the afflicted and the infirm. For close to two centuries, it served this role, until 1803, when it was sold to the visionary Pierre Fiteau, who transformed it into a lazaret for voyagers returning from ships laden with illness.

The Grande Maison then passed through the hands of the Troussail and the Lacaille, before being acquired by the imaginative Olive Lemarchand. He renamed his new domain 'Savannah' and established a sugarcane factory near the house, where the Great House of Savannah resided the various directors of the sugar factory. During World War II, the Réunion was enshrouded in an eerie silence as transport was cut off. The Grande Maison was used as a storage facility for bags of sugar that couldn't find their way to the markets.

A cyclone in 1948 ravaged the roof, which was replaced with sheet metal. Since then, the Grande Maison lies abandoned and sealed, its once vibrant windows bricked up. Now, the house belongs to the city hall of Saint-Paul, who dream of restoring it to serve a purpose related to the nearby Réserve naturelle nationale de l'Etang de Saint-Paul.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons