Château du Grand Perron

Château du Grand Perron stands in the commune of Pierre-Bénite, France, and was constructed during the Middle Ages.

The site began as an old fortress that took part in the defence of Lyon. The earliest recorded owner is Robert Ruffi, a canon of Lyon who died in 1183. Over the centuries the estate changed hands among clerical and lay proprietors and acquired a residential character alongside its original defensive role.

In the early 1500s the property belonged to Antoine Besson, a canon of Saint-Paul, and remained with his family until 1521. In 1518 King François I granted Claude Besson, a relative, permission to strengthen or fortify the house. Two years later, in 1521, Guidobaldo Gondi (1486–1560) and Marie‑Catherine Pierrevive bought the domain and had the residence rebuilt; Guidobaldo later took the name Antoine de Gondi, seigneur du Perron, and Marie‑Catherine is recorded as governess to the children of France. Queen Catherine de Médicis visited the estate on three occasions, the last visit taking place in 1564.

Ownership passed again in 1555 when Albisse d’Elbène acquired the château; his son Alexandre later disposed of the property. In 1582 Antoine Camus, baron de Riverie, became owner; his son Marc Antoine, who served as a prévôt des marchands (chief municipal magistrate), and then Marc Antoine’s son Maurice succeeded to the fief before later heirs sold it. Lambert de Pontsaintpierre purchased the domain in 1675 and his family kept it until they sold the property for 110,000 livres to the administrators of the Aumônerie de la Charité. In 1762 Jean Pierre Giraud, a resident of Lyon, made that same administration, the Hospices, his universal heir.

By the time of the French Revolution the château was already in poor condition and was converted into a relief house and a home for orphans. In the twentieth century the buildings served social and health needs: in 1956 they housed displaced persons and Hungarian refugees, and in 1957 they were used to care for overflow patients during the Asian influenza epidemic. The estate and the neighbouring Longchêne plot now stand separated by a broad valley and together form the core of the Centre hospitalier Lyon Sud. The Renaissance façade and the roof of the central block received formal historic protection on 31 December 1979, and on the same date the remains of the façades and roofs at the inner angle and the main staircase were placed under historic listing; another record notes protection beginning in 1971.