Deux maisons en bois du 15e siècle
MonumentHidden Treasure
Deux maisons en bois du 15e siècle, located in Montrichard (Loir-et-Cher), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Montrichard, Loir-et-Cher, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.3430, 1.1862
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00098519
In the heart of Montrichard, these two 15th-century timber-framed houses epitomise the medieval art of building in the Loire Valley, with carved roof timbers, moulded pilasters and fishbone brickwork of rare elegance.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
Nestling in the old fabric of Montrichard, a small town of character in the Loir-et-Cher region, these two adjoining houses are one of the finest examples of timber-framed civil architecture in the Cher valley. Built in the 15th century, they belong to a generation of bourgeois and merchant houses that dotted the shopping streets of medium-sized towns in the Loire Valley, at a time when economic prosperity enabled wealthy craftsmen and merchants to display their success in stone and woodwork. What immediately sets these houses apart is the exceptional quality of their load-bearing structure. Powerful corner posts, adorned with finely-moulded pilasters on the first level, support chests whose mouldings end in sculpted lantern caps - details that reveal the hand of craftsmen with a perfect mastery of the late Gothic ornamental vocabulary, already tinged with new influences. The brick infills, arranged in a variety of patterns - horizontal rows, interlacing, fishbone - transform the surface of the gables into a rare and precious decorative calepinage. The interior holds a further surprise: two large stone fireplaces remain, evidence of the domestic comfort sought by the first occupants. The one on the first floor subtly combines typically Gothic column bases with capitals, escutcheons and rosettes that already herald the Renaissance spirit of the early 16th century, providing a striking snapshot of a period of artistic transition. To visit these houses is to stroll down an almost intact medieval street, where the eye glides from the sculpted brackets to the brick motifs, from the ground floor, once open to the street, to the more intimate upper floors. The town of Montrichard itself, dominated by its 11th-century keep and crossed by the River Cher, is an ideal setting in which to extend your discovery of the Loire's medieval heritage.
Architecture
The framework of the two houses is based on a structural principle characteristic of medieval timber-framed architecture: strong oak posts, reinforced by ornamental pilasters on the first floor, support horizontal chests whose profiled mouldings fall onto sculpted lantern capitals, giving the façade a vertical and horizontal rhythm with careful decorative accents. On the upper floors, the posts become smooth, and the whole is braced by a double row of braces on each of the two levels, giving the structure rigidity and graphic legibility from the street. The infill between the timber-framed walls is executed in brick, arranged in a number of patterns - horizontal rows, alternating horizontal and vertical rows, interlacing and fishbone - which transform the gables into quasi-decorative compositions of a sophistication rare in the region's civil architecture. Inside, two large stone fireplaces are the centrepieces of the décor. The most remarkable of these, on the first floor, displays a fascinating stylistic dialogue between the Gothic and the nascent Renaissance periods: the column bases are still part of the 15th century repertoire, while the capitals, mantel mouldings, sculpted escutcheon and small rosettes and dentils are part of the ornamental vocabulary of the early 16th century, evoking the decor of the great Loire residences of the time. This superimposition of styles bears witness to construction or remodelling over several decades, straddling the two periods.
Related Figures
Foulques Nerra — comte d'Anjou, fondateur du château de Montrichard, dont le développement urbain initié créa le contexte propice à l'essor commercial ayant rendu possible la construction de ces demeuresArtisans charpentiers ligériens du XVe siècle — maîtres d'œuvre anonymes de la structure à pans de bois, héritiers d'une tradition locale de haute qualitéSculpteurs de l'entourage du chantier royal de Blois — dont le style ornemental du début du XVIe siècle se retrouve dans les cheminées intérieuresPropriétaires marchands ou artisans du XVe siècle — commanditaires anonymes de ces demeures, témoins de la bourgeoisie commerçante de MontrichardInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques (début XXe siècle) — auteurs du classement précurseur de 1912, parmi les premiers à reconnaître la valeur du patrimoine civil médiéval
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Deux maisons en bois du 15e siècle located?
Deux maisons en bois du 15e siècle is located in Montrichard, Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
When was Deux maisons en bois du 15e siècle built?
Deux maisons en bois du 15e siècle dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Deux maisons en bois du 15e siècle open to visitors?
Deux maisons en bois du 15e siècle is currently closed to visitors.