Square des Francine


Square des Francine is a public park created from a former watering pool for horses, situated at the edge of the Avenue de Sceaux in Versailles, France. In 2016 the pool was transformed into a geometrical shrubbery park with a playground for children around a fountain.
The Francines were the family who over several generations created and oversaw the hydraulic system that ran the many fountains in the garden of Versailles during the 17th and 18th centuries. The newly created fountain is named in their honour.

History

Originally, the Square des Francine was a vacant lot in the royal domain and dominated by the Gobert reservoirs, which was transformed into the :fr:Jardin_des_étangs_Gobert|Jardin des Etangs Gobert in 2014.
In 1808, renovations by the architect Jean-Prospèr Marital created a drinking trough 32m in diameter surrounded by a stone wall and a paved ground for receiving horses, and a wall built to hide the view from the Palace of Versailles
In 1934, the field around the horse watering pool was registered in Monuments historiques as "Abreuvoir Louis XIV".
During World War II, the original construction was destroyed leaving only the semicircular wall seen today.
Between 1955 and 1957, the city of Versailles developed the site into a public park with a pond of 80m2 surrounded by 4 wings of playing zone and the ring formed walking place around the wings.
Between 2012 and 2014, as part of a development plan for the Versailles Chantiers area, the semicircular wall was renovated. The rest of the area was also developed and the Square des Francine was opened to the public in 2016.

Structure of the Square des Francine

The city of Versailles develop the building of the SNCF train station of Versailles Chantiers and its area for: