Château de la Johannie

Johannes is the latin form of Jean or John and is named after the original owner or the house of Jean.^[1]: 135 Château means "castle" in French.

It was built circa 1308 on an old house built in 1083.^[2] It belonged to Hugues de Jean in the 14th century.^[2][3] It stayed in the Jean family (later known as the Johannie family) until 1498, when it was acquired by Vassal family, who owned 1/7th of Curemonte.^[3] Marguerite de la Johannie had married Pierre Vassal in 1460 who was the Lord of Tourette nearby in Betaille.^[1]: 137

It was acquired by Mathurin le Brun on 11 March 1623 after the widow of Jacques de Vassal, Marguerite de Belcastel de Campaniac and nephew Jean Vassal sold it.^{[3][1]: 137} Then it was acquired by the d'Ambert family when Antoine d'Ambert married Agathe le Brun in 1594.^{[3][1]: 137} It was acquired by the Plas family in 1693 who resided next door at Châteaux de Saint-Hilaire et des Plas.^[3]

In 1830, the descendants of the Plas family left Curemonte, and Chateau de la Johannie was now in the hands of the Escaravage family which held it until 1971.^[1]: 137 It was then purchased by the Bescançon family as a second home and kept it until 1988 when it was purchased by the Pierre Wack family.^[1]: 137

This house consists of two wings.^[1]: 136 A square stair tower located at the centre of the two wings houses with a spiral staircase that serves the two buildings.^[1]: 136 The buildings had defensive machicolation's or loopholes at roof height, but they were removed in the past.^[1]: 136 The main entrance door, above ground level, would have been accessed by a wooded staircase and deck in the past.^[1]: 136 The windows become larger as the height above the ground increase.^[1]: 136 On the east side, there is a carved window.^[1]: 136

It has been listed as an official monument since 1981.^[2]