US heritage lover's heaven-sent legacy for abbey

An American architect was so impassioned by French cultural heritage that he left his entire estate to six historic sites in France upon his death in 2014.

Gordon Schroeder, who was born in Seattle in 1928, left $125,000 to the Abbaye de Vaucelles in Les Rues-des-Vignes in the Nord department, with smaller legacies to four chateaux.

Mr Schroeder, who died without heirs, had visited France on numerous occasions throughout his life, and many of the buildings that he designed back home were strongly influenced by French architecture.

According to Anne Lagoutte, a representative of the friends of the abbey, his visit to Vaucelles took place approximately 12 years ago, in conjunction with a conservation charity called Les Vieilles Maisons Françaises. She remembers that Mr Schroeder met her parents during his visit, and expressed his intention to leave the abbey a legacy. Nothing more was heard until the association was contacted by a lawyer acting on behalf of his estate after his death.

Vaucelles, the largest Cistercian abbey in the world, was built in 1132 by Saint Bernard on the land of Lord Hugues d’Oisy, the owner of the chateau at Cambrai, who was attempting to atone for his sins. It endured for many centuries, but was severely damaged first during the Revolution and then the First World War. Since the 1970s it has been patiently and lovingly restored using charitable funds.

Like many historic sites across France, and despite receiving up to 25,000 visitors per year, the abbey subsists merely on its entry receipts. In order to carry out any work needed to restore and adequately conserve the building, additional funds are urgently needed, and, until 2014, no benefactor had been found. So dilapidated had its physical state become that friends of the abbey were even contemplating closing it to the public.

The news of Mr Schroeder’s legacy was, in these circumstances, a very welcome surprise. The terms of his will stipulate that the money has to be spent on specific conservation projects. There was no shortage of suitable suggestions, and the friends of the abbey soon embarked on work to preserve the windows and to install a much-needed fire security system.

“Without the money we simply could not envisage doing this essential work,” said Mrs Lagoutte. “It seemed to us that the legacy was heaven-sent”.

The legacy has not come without its complications. Negotiating with lawyers in a different language and operating within a different legal system is challenging for a small charity with only three members of staff, as is finding the funds to pay contractors before they can be reimbursed from the US.

Nonetheless, Mr Schroeder’s love for old French buildings will enable the 12th-century abbey to inspire visitors for at least a few more decades.

He also bequeathed money to the Arlempdes chateau in Haute-Loire, Olhain in Pas-de-Calais, Sarzay (Indre), Bosmelet (Seine Maritime) and the chateau gardens at Saint-Denis-Sur-Loire (Loir-et-Cher).