Immeuble
Monument
Immeuble, located in Arras (Pas-de-Calais), 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
- Arras, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 50.2921, 2.7796
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00108018
In the heart of Arras, this remarkable listed building bears witness to Flemish architectural genius and the splendour of the arcaded facades for which the town's main squares are renowned.
History
Arras is a city that can be read in its facades. Its famous squares - the Grand'Place and the Place des Héros - form one of the most coherent and spectacular groups of civil architecture in the north of France, and it is in this exceptional context that this building, classified as a Historic Monument since 1921, is set. Far from being just another building, it is a masterpiece of an urban fabric whose heritage density is recognised on a European scale. What makes this building truly unique is that it is part of a building tradition that is unique to the Artois region, inherited from both Spanish Flanders and Nordic Baroque. The façades of white sandstone and bricks arranged in rhythmic alternation, the stepped or scrolled gables, the arcades on the ground floor forming continuous canopies - these are all features that distinguish Arras from any other French town and that justified early heritage protection in the inter-war period. Visiting this building also means immersing yourself in an extraordinary story of reconstruction. Arras was virtually razed to the ground during the First World War, and its historic buildings - including this building - were meticulously raised from the rubble thanks to an identical restoration effort that remains one of the most ambitious ever undertaken in France. Every ashlar, every column, every modenature bears witness to the patient work carried out in the 1920s. The visitor experience is intimately linked to strolling through the covered areas, the arcaded galleries that extend the building onto the street and invite you to take a stroll sheltered from the northern weather. The light of the Artois region, which changes and turns golden at low hours, plays on the sculpted relief of the façades and offers photographers some strikingly beautiful shots, particularly at dawn or in the late afternoon. As well as its architecture, this building reveals the merchant and bourgeois soul of a prosperous town: Arras was one of the great cloth-producing cities of medieval Europe, and its square buildings embodied both the economic success and civic sense of its inhabitants. To stop here is to reconnect with centuries of living history.
Architecture
The building is part of the great tradition of arcaded houses that characterise the squares of Arras, making up one of the most homogenous groups of Flemish and Nordic Baroque civil architecture in France. The multi-storey façade rests on semi-circular arches on the ground floor, forming the covered arcades that were once used to hold markets sheltered from the elements. These arcades, supported by columns or pillars in bluish Artois sandstone, give the building a rhythmic majesty and a permeability between public and private space that is entirely characteristic of Nordic urban planning. The upper storeys feature a succession of ordered bays, punctuated by flat pilasters and moulded cornices. The mullioned or transomed windows, depending on the state of conservation or restoration of the joinery, are set in carefully dressed ashlar surrounds. The crowning feature of the façade, probably a stepped or scrolled Baroque gable - a dominant feature of Arras squares - is the most spectacular element of the composition, immediately recognisable in the panorama of large squares. The materials used reflect local resources: brick, used for the infill, contrasts with the blond sandstone or limestone ashlar that structures the load-bearing and decorative elements. This subtle polychromy, inherited from Flemish practices, gives the façades a particular warmth and liveliness depending on the time of day and the weather conditions in the Artois region.
Related Figures
Louis XIV — dont l'annexion définitive de l'Artois en 1659 impulsa une vague de constructions et d'embellissements urbains à ArrasLes maîtres drapiers artésiens des XIVe-XVIIe siècles — commanditaires des premières grandes maisons de placePierre Paquet — architecte en chef des Monuments Historiques chargé de la reconstruction d'Arras après 1918Maximilien de Robespierre — enfant d'Arras, dont la vie se déroula dans ce tissu urbain de places et d'immeubles bourgeoisLes architectes locaux du XVIIe siècle, héritiers de la tradition flamande et espagnole, qui donnèrent leur forme définitive aux façades baroques des places
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Immeuble located?
Immeuble is located in Arras, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Immeuble built?
Immeuble dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Immeuble open to visitors?
Immeuble is currently closed to visitors.