Chateau Banana, France

Chateau Banana is an abandoned chateau in France, featuring some very kitschy and eclectic furniture. It is located part way up a hill, on the outskirts of a small French town in the mountains.

It is possible that Chateau Banana was in the process of being converted into some sort of kitsch-themed hotel, being used in the meantime to store the furniture and decorations. Another explanation is that this was the chateau of a kitsch-obsessed collector/hoarder. A lot of the items appear to be German in origin, this can be observed on several items such as board game instruction manuals.

Our impressions of Chateau Banana

The first thing that was apparent when we arrived at Chateau Banana; that photographs can be misleading! Corridors and stairways are lined with boxes, cartons and jumbled assorted items. Sometimes these are stacked up to the ceiling. Narrow paths through the chaos lead to rooms filled with furniture and piles of more belongings. It now made sense why there are relatively few room shots of this chateau, much of it is too full of clutter to move in (let alone photograph).

Eventually finding the living rooms and attached dining room, we found most of the shutters nailed closed. The lack of light inside Chateau Banana was another thing that diverged from our preconceived ideas of what this location would be like. An upstairs bedroom featured many interesting items, well lit by the afternoon sun peeking through the shuttered windows. These few rooms were pristine, set-up and perfect as if part of a movie set. The rest of the house is a stark contrast indeed.

Chateau Banana makes for some interesting, albeit heavily staged, photographs. In recent years, the painting in the lounge has been removed. It also appears that some of the chairs have been stolen. The furniture appears to constantly change position between photographers visits.