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
- 50.2914, 2.7808
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00108028
In the heart of Arras, this building, listed since 1920, embodies the splendour of Flemish architecture, with its stepped gabled facades and arcades characteristic of the Grand-Place and Petite-Place.
History
Arras is one of the few French towns to have preserved a remarkably coherent body of Flemish Baroque architecture, and the listed buildings in its town centre play a key role in this. Far from being mere frozen witnesses to the past, these buildings continue to beat to the rhythm of urban life, blending commerce, housing and heritage with a discreet but sovereign elegance. What sets these buildings in Arras apart is the almost musical balance between repetition and variation: each facade takes up the founding codes - stepped gable, semi-circular arches on the ground floor, pilasters punctuating the upper floors - while at the same time using its own ornamentation in white limestone from the coalfield. Sculpted dormers, moulded cornices and the play of rusticated features give the building a strong personality. The visit is best enjoyed from the emblematic squares of Arras, where the arcaded galleries offer a covered walkway that is unique in France. Under these vaults, you can see the practical genius of the Flemish master builders, who knew how to combine aesthetics and functionality, sheltered from the harsh northern climate. Lovers of architecture will appreciate the sculpted details, which reveal all their refinement in the low-angled light of the morning or late afternoon. The cobblestones, creamy ochre-coloured facades and slate roofs create an image of rare coherence that even the massive destruction of the First World War could not erase, thanks to the meticulous identical reconstruction carried out between 1920 and 1930. The building was listed in 1920, in the immediate aftermath of the war, and bears witness to the collective will to safeguard a threatened architectural identity.
Architecture
The architecture of this building in Arras is in the late Flemish Baroque style, typical of civil buildings in Northern France in the 17th and 18th centuries. The façades, built of white Artois limestone, are organised according to a clear grammar: a ground floor pierced by semi-circular arches resting on sturdy pillars, upper storeys punctuated by classical pilasters with Ionic or Corinthian capitals, and a stepped gable or curved pediment crown, depending on the variant. Dormers with sculpted fins and modillion cornices add ornamental richness without weighing down the overall composition. The materials used are typical of the region: light-coloured limestone from the Artesian Basin for the structures and ornamentation, blue slate from the Ardennes for the steeply pitched roofs, and brick for some of the infill or for the party walls. The ground floor arcades, a major functional and aesthetic feature, are barrel-vaulted and paved with limestone flagstones worn by centuries of merchant traffic. The interior, typical of northern merchant houses, has a deep plan with a rear courtyard that is sometimes accessible. Exposed joist floors, moulded mantelpieces and staircases with turned balusters are notable features of the interior layout, reflecting the bourgeois comforts typical of Artois in the Grand Siècle.
Related Figures
Vauban — ingénieur militaire qui contribua à la transformation de l'espace urbain arrageois après 1659Maximilien de Robespierre — avocat et homme politique né à Arras en 1758, contemporain des immeubles des placesJoseph-Benoît Guislain — architecte régional actif au XIXe siècle, intervenant sur plusieurs édifices arrageoisPierre Paquet — architecte en chef des Monuments Historiques ayant supervisé la reconstruction d'Arras après 1918Louis XIV — sous son règne, le rattachement d'Arras à la France en 1659 impulse le renouveau urbanistique
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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.