Authentic 4 beautiful blue chairs from 19th century. French Provincial architecture is a style associated with specific geographic areas. Used for residential architecture, it was originally found in the countryside of France. The term is used to denote rural manor houses and chateaux from the 1600s and 1700s. Sometimes these structures were truly manors, living spaces for a wealthy landowner and their family but also business centres for the farms and tenants who lived on the surrounding land. Others were built as summer or vacation homes, many during the reign of Louis XIV. These structures, some almost castle-like, were built by French aristocrats in the provinces, or rural regions of France outside of Paris. A province was a historical designation, and tended to include the land surrounding a regional city. The provinces included places like Normandy, Brittany, and Provence.