The history of the Gras estate in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes is difficult to establish. The property is mentionned on the land register of 1775 and kept by the village town hall.

Beside the barn and the stable, there were many parts : one quoted as the master house the other one as a cellar.

In 1867, Victor Fouque wrote many pages onthe house. Here, we reproduce his text :
"Since this house exists, it has belonged to different persons.The Niépce family bought it from a M. Rocault. After Claude and Nicephore Niépce's demise, the heirs were obliged to sell the fields, the meadows, the vineyards, the farms, the inn,etc., which constituted the estate, and also many other properties located within the boundaries of different villages, to pay the debts incured to meet Claude Niépce’s huge expenses for his machines, his engines, the Pyreolophore, Hydraulic pumps and other mecanical inventions.



Complete cadastre of the mansion

The Gras mansion,as well as the courtyards, gardens, ground and buildings attached to it, were bought by a M. Briveaux from Chalon. Seen from the street, in fact the main highway from Chalon to Lyon , leading to the railway,the rear of this dwelling present a uniform aspect.
But the facade on the gardens is quite different.
The part that was the Niépce brothers’ dwelling , and which is the closest one to the main highway, is higher and bigger than the other part that faces the old courtyard, and in which were the aviary and the other building.

The three shares of the sale.

M. Briveaux, after he had bougfht the estate, divided it in three shares. The first one included the living quarter,and some gardens bordering the main road ; first sold to Miss Roy, sister of M. Roy-Combes, merchant in Chalon , was finaly purchased by the present owner : M. Besson,son-in-law of M. Thiebaut,of the trading copany Thiebaut and Brinet, in Chalon.

The other building, not as important as the preceding one, was the second share, in which were included the courtyard, the aviary, a portion of the garden,etc. After living here and using it for many years,Briveaux sold it to M. Bon , grocer in Chalon. A wall and annexes were built to separate the two estates.This wall and theannexes hide for a large part of the viewfrom M. Bon’s house, giving to it an umpleasant look ; the weeds growing uncontrolled in the courtyard, and the permanently closed shutters,give it the aspect of an abandoned house. The gardens of the two properties are separated by a wooden fence.

The third share was including agricultural buildings,such as barn,stable, kennel, etc. ,and a field fenced by the railway hedge .Thid share was bought from M. Briveauxby the present owner, M . Paillot-Dupuis. M. Paillot has adapted a part of these buildings, bordering the railway street,to be his dwelling.

M. Bon has kept the old big and small doors, giving access to his house.But M. Besson had a beautiful wrought iron railing and gate installed to enter his coutyard or rather in his gardens laid out and kept with a lot of taste and care,and to which he adds every day new improvements.

It is from the attic window of M. Besson’s house, on the main road side, and facing the inn, that Nicephore made most of his tests and his heliographic experiments. He very often used one of M. Bon’swindowand that faces the aviary, the bread oven, the barn roof,etc. , as mentioned in his letters on the 5th, 28th, may and 2nd june 1816.
Excepted for a Beurre-blanc pear-tree,that was uprooted recently to make way for a flower-bed,and some trees from the orchard, the aviary,the bread-oven,the barn, etc.,so well described by Niépce in his letters, arestill there.

In the part of the house that belongs to M. Bon,Nicephore Niépce had installed his chemistry laboratory, and a mecanic workshop, in which he had the Good Langrois execute either the apparatus conceived and described by Claude Niépce,or his own."

V. Fouque. La vérité sur l'invention de la photographie. 1867.