Hôtel Princé
MonumentHidden Treasure
Hôtel Princé, located in Tours (Indre-et-Loire), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Tours, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.3920, 0.6827
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00098306
In the heart of Tours, the Hôtel Princé conceals within its walls a Carolingian façade that is unique in France: medieval fishbone facing and Roman tegulae, a thousand-year-old vestige of a vanished suburb.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
Behind a bourgeois Belle Époque façade lies one of the most precious archaeological testimonies to medieval Touraine. The Hôtel Princé, nestling in a quiet street in the centre of Tours, is unique not because of its surface architecture, but because of what it conceals: a fragment of Carolingian wall of rare integrity, buried in the urban fabric like a stone memory. What makes this residence truly unique is the troubling coexistence of several periods. The south facade, facing the garden and rue Néricault-Destouches, reveals an ancient facing made up of superimposed bands of small and medium-sized reticulated, fishbone stonework, punctuated by courses of tegulae - flat Roman tiles recycled by Carolingian builders - and organised around a large arched bay. This architectural fragment is in strikingly anachronistic dialogue with 19th-century bourgeois reconstruction. The hotel's cellars are also full of surprises: masonry of various origins coexist here, including a section of wall made of assorted flint chips, thought to be a vestige of the old ramparts that closed off the faubourg Saint-Martin in the 10th century. To go down into these basements is literally to cross the strata of Touraine's history, from the Carolingian foundations to the cellars of the bourgeois house. It's like visiting an architectural cabinet of curiosities: you're not looking for the grandeur of a castle or the magnificence of a cathedral, but for the discreet thrill of the authentic. The medieval façade, discovered by chance during building work in 1896, imposes a humility in the face of time. The Hôtel Princé will appeal to fans of medieval archaeology, lovers of urban history and anyone fascinated by the permanence of stone beneath the varnish of centuries.
Architecture
The main façade of the Hôtel Princé is typical of a late 19th-century middle-class house built in the style of the Belle Époque: regular volumes, a slate roof and elevations in local dressed stone. However, this neo-traditional envelope conceals a more complex reality, as the 1895 reconstruction incorporated reused medieval elements, particularly in the roof timbers, creating a hybrid structure whose true age is difficult to grasp at first glance. The main architectural interest lies in the south facade, facing the interior garden. This exceptionally well-preserved Carolingian facade is laid out in superimposed bands combining several masonry techniques: fishbone bonding (opus spicatum), characteristic of the Carolingian and early Romanesque periods, small- and medium-modulus reticulated bonding, and courses of tegulae - recycled Roman flat tiles - arranged in horizontal decorative motifs. The ensemble is enlivened by a large arched bay that articulates the composition and suggests the existence of a prestigious building on this site as early as the High Middle Ages. The cellars make up the third level of architectural interest. Their heterogeneous masonry, most of which is very old, includes a section of wall made of assised flint chips attributed to the 10th century, a material characteristic of medieval fortifications and infrastructures in the Paris Basin and the Middle Loire. The subsoil thus forms a veritable architectural stratigraph, visible in layers from the Carolingian period to the 19th century.
Related Figures
Abbé Ludovic Bosseboeuf — archéologue et historien tourangeau, découvreur du parement carolingien lors des travaux de 1896Louis Bousrez — historien et érudit local, auteur de la première description scientifique du parement en 1907Famille de Bazire — propriétaires ayant fait reconstruire la demeure vers 1895 en intégrant des éléments médiévaux de remploiRoger Princé — industriel tourangeau, acquéreur de la propriété vers 1930, dont le nom est resté attaché à l'édifice
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Hôtel Princé located?
Hôtel Princé is located in Tours, Indre-et-Loire department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
Is Hôtel Princé open to visitors?
Hôtel Princé is currently closed to visitors.