Maisons-Laffitte

Maisons-Laffitte is a commune in the Yvelines department in the northern Île-de-France region of France. It is a part of the affluent outer suburbs of northwestern Paris, 18.2 km from its centre.

Maisons-Laffitte is famous for the Château de Maisons-Laffitte, built by architect François Mansart in the 17th century, and its horse racing track, the Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse. Église Saint-Nicolas was built between 1867 and 1872.

History
Originally called Maisons-sur-Seine (meaning "Houses upon Seine"), the commune was officially renamed Maisons-Laffitte in 1882 in honour of banker Jacques Laffitte who financed the housing developments on the estate of the Château de Maisons-Laffitte.

The Château de Maisons-Laffitte has a secret passage to what once used to be part of the Château de Maisons-Laffitte but which is now a school – Collège de l'Ermitage.

Landmarks
Maisons-Laffitte is famous for the Château de Maisons-Laffitte, built by architect François Mansart in the 17th century. Maisons-Laffitte is also known for its horse racing track, the Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse, which is why the town is known as the "cité du cheval" and compared with Newmarket in the United Kingdom.

Église Saint-Nicolas was mainly built between 1867 and 1872 under architect Eugène Millet, on the land of an old cemetery. It was consecrated in 1872 by Jean-Pierre Mabile, the bishop of Versailles.

Transport
Maisons-Laffitte is served by Maisons-Laffitte station on Paris RER line A and on the Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare suburban rail line.

Notable residents

 * Pape-Philippe Amagou, basketball player
 * Grégory Baugé, cyclist
 * Eugène Louis Bouvier, zoologist
 * Jean Cocteau, writer, filmmaker, and artist
 * Jerzy Giedroyc, founder and editor of a leading Polish-émigré literary-political journal, Kultura
 * Philippe Jaroussky, opera singer
 * Coralie Lassource, handball player
 * René Le Roy (1898–1985), classical flautist
 * Odd Nerdrum, painter
 * Randy de Puniet, motorcycle racer
 * Anne Queffélec, pianist
 * Yvonne Rokseth, composer and musicologist
 * Emma Watson (until the age of five), actress
 * James Winkfield, jockey, horse trainer
 * Ghislaine Maxwell, British socialite known for her association with Jeffrey Epstein

Education
Public schools:
 * Six preschools/nurseries (maternelles): Bois-Bonnet, Clos-Lainé, Cocteau, Colbert, La Renarde, Montebello
 * Four elementary schools: Jehan Alain/André Ledreux, Colbert, Le Prieuré, Mansart
 * Junior high schools (collèges): Jean Cocteau and Le Prieuré
 * Senior high schools/sixth-form colleges: Lycée Évariste Galois (Sartrouville) and Lycée Les Pierres Vives (Carrières sur Seine)

Private schools:
 * International School of France / L'Ermitage (preschool to senior high)
 * Sainte-Marie (preschool and elementary)
 * Ecole Montessori Internationale

Twin towns – sister cities
Since 2023, Maisons-Laffitte is exclusively and reciprocally twinned with Arkadag city, Turkmenistan.