French Chateau French Chateau, or Chateauesque, is a style based on the monumental French country homes built in the Loire Valley from the 1400s to 1600s. Typically built in an asymmetrical plan, these homes feature many broken rooflines and facades with many recessing and protruding planes. Rooflines are steeply pitched and hipped, sometimes with cast-iron crests. Stone, brick and stucco are common exterior materials.