Immeuble à lucarne de type compagnonnique
MonumentHidden Treasure
Immeuble à lucarne de type compagnonnique, located in Châteauroux (Indre), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Châteauroux, Indre, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 46.8113, 1.6955
- Mérimée Reference
- PA36000004
In Châteauroux, three buildings in the rue de la Gare conceal under their roofs masterpieces of Compagnonnique carpentry by Hippolyte Moreau, known as Berry-la-Conscience - the wooden testament of a master of the Tour de France.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
As you round a bend in the rue de la Gare in Châteauroux, a glance up at the rooftops reveals an unexpected sight: amazingly complex dormer windows, bristling with nasturtiums, guitardes and cross domes, rise like architectural sculptures above ordinary middle-class buildings. These works are more than mere ornaments: they are the professional testament of an extraordinary journeyman carpenter, Hippolyte Moreau dit Berry-la-Conscience, who condensed in them a lifetime of skills acquired on the roads of the Tour de France. What makes these buildings absolutely unique in France is their status as living signs. Moreau didn't just set out to decorate the family homes in the rue de la Gare: he also put on a life-size, open-air display of the most demanding tricks of his trade. Each dormer window is a demonstration of the "science of the line", the mastery of the layout of penetrating volumes that was at the heart of Compagnon teaching. In just a few square metres of woodwork, you can see the most refined results of a lifetime's work on the site. The visitor experience is that of an open-air museum, accessible to any curious passer-by. There's no need for a ticket or a timetable: just look up to contemplate the capuchin balconies, the semi-circular corbels supported by twisted fluted columns, the imperial roofs topping two diverging capuchins. Each detail calls the eye to rest, to decipher the geometric logic that presides over these clockwork-precise assemblies. The setting of rue de la Gare, a Haussmann-style thoroughfare opened in 1873, gives these buildings a highly visible urban anchorage. At the time, Châteauroux was undergoing major industrial and rail changes, offering ambitious entrepreneurs like Moreau vast worksites, and these facades bear witness to the prosperity of a provincial bourgeoisie that knew how to recognise talent. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1997, these buildings are one of the few surviving examples in France of journeymen's carpentry applied to ordinary civil architecture.
Architecture
The three buildings in rue de la Gare have a sober facade that is representative of provincial middle-class construction in the second half of the 19th century: rendered masonry, commercial ground floor, first floor and attic floor, rectangular plan with a canted corner for the most remarkable of them. The walls are decorated with wooden timbers in the shape of a Saint Andrew's cross, a motif that heralds the decorative vocabulary of the Compagnons on the roofs. It is in the roof timbers and dormers that the architectural uniqueness of the complex lies. The technical vocabulary used - capucine, guitarde, capucine balcony, imperial roof, semi-circular corbelling - refers to a repertoire of forms specific to the tradition of the carpenters of the Devoir. The nasturtium is a form of dormer window whose plan flares out in front of the roof; the guitarde, which is even more complex, has an inverted arch profile. The penetration joints, which form the central feature of these structures, demonstrate a perfect mastery of the line: two distinct geometric volumes interpenetrate without any piece of wood being sacrificed, each butt being cut with millimetre precision. The corbels are supported by carved wooden brackets, some of which fall onto twisted fluted columns, adding a touch of Renaissance refinement to these resolutely traditional roofs.
Related Figures
Hippolyte Moreau dit Berry-la-Conscience (1822-1900), Compagnon Passant Charpentier du Devoir, entrepreneur et auteur des lucarnesArmand Viraud, gendre d'Hippolyte Moreau et associé entrepreneur de travaux publicsLes Compagnons Charpentiers du Devoir, confrérie initiatique dont Moreau était membre et dépositaire des traditions
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Immeuble à lucarne de type compagnonnique located?
Immeuble à lucarne de type compagnonnique is located in Châteauroux, Indre department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
When was Immeuble à lucarne de type compagnonnique built?
Immeuble à lucarne de type compagnonnique dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Immeuble à lucarne de type compagnonnique open to visitors?
Immeuble à lucarne de type compagnonnique is currently closed to visitors.