Timothy Corrigan
Timothy Corrigan, owner of the château de la Chevallerie, about two hours from Paris on the border of Normandy and the Loire Valley, is one of America’s leading interior designers and one of the most devoted American friends of French heritage. True to his motto, “Comfort first, comfort last, comfort always,” he combines the elegance of the French tradition with the ease of modern living.
A Los Angeles native, he first built a long career in advertising, rising to President of International at Bates Worldwide. In 1997, he turned his passion into his profession and opened his own interior design firm in Los Angeles. Self-taught, he was named to Architectural Digest’s AD100 list only a few years later. Today, his studios in Los Angeles and Paris work on projects across the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. His projects include the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Paris, and he designs fabrics, wallpapers, and rugs.
Some have called him a “châteauholic,” a title he happily accepts. “I love the process of finding these old sleeping beauties,” he says, “bringing them back to life and restoring them for the way we live today.” His first château was Blainville, followed by Gallerande. In 2004, he acquired the Château du Grand-Lucé, a 1764 masterpiece in the Loire Valley, and told the story of its restoration in An Invitation to Chateau du Grand-Lucé (Rizzoli, 2013). He later passed it on to new owners, who opened it as a hotel.
In 2018, after visiting more than fifty châteaux across France, he bought his fourth, the château de la Chevallerie. He was won over by the quality of its 18th-century carved paneling and by its parquet de Versailles, which runs through all three floors. He restored the house from top to bottom, adding comfort without changing its character: the château went from four bathrooms to eighteen. Around it stretch more than 100 acres of woods, fields, and gardens, which the landscape architect Édouard André redesigned in the late 19th century. He has placed more than 150 sculptures across the grounds.
A longtime member of the board and executive committee of the French Heritage Society, he was appointed Chair of its Board in October 2025, effective at the start of 2026. Founded in 1982, the organization has awarded more than $16 million in grants to restore over 700 historic sites in France and the United States.
