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
- 50.2912, 2.7776
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00108081
A stone witness to the history of Arras, this building, listed as a Historic Monument since 1919, embodies Flemish civil architecture in all its ornamental richness and remarkable urban coherence.
History
In the heart of Arras, a town whose urban fabric is one of the best-preserved Baroque and Classical ensembles in northern France, this listed building is an irreplaceable part of the city's architectural landscape. Its protection since 1919 - in the immediate aftermath of the Great War, when Arras was licking its colossal wounds - bears witness to the urgency felt at the time to preserve what could still be preserved in a town more than 60% battered by bombing. The building is part of a long tradition of construction in Arras, heir to the Flemish and Spanish influences that shaped the region's civil architecture between the 16th and 18th centuries. The gabled facades, brick and bluestone arcades and elaborate dormer windows are all stylistic signatures that can be found here, with an elegance characteristic of the middle-class homes of the Artois region. To visit this building is to plunge into the memory of a town that has managed to rebuild itself without denying its identity. Arras is famous for its two main squares - the Grand-Place and the Place des Héros - whose arcades date back mainly to the 17th and 18th centuries. In this exceptional architectural context, each listed building represents a fragment of a collective narrative, that of a prosperous merchant bourgeoisie that combined Nordic austerity with ornamental refinement. The experience of visiting, even outdoors, offers walkers an open-air lesson in urban history. The low-angled light of autumn mornings reveals the stone carvings, elaborate modillions and wrought iron details that adorn the façade with particular acuity. For lovers of civil architecture and local history, this monument is a must-see when exploring Arras.
Architecture
The building displays the typical characteristics of Artesian civil architecture, marked by a synthesis between Flemish building traditions and the French classical canons disseminated from the 17th century onwards. The façade, laid out in regular bays, combines red brick with white limestone for the window surrounds, cornices and sculpted elements - a chromatic interplay that gives the street frontages of Arras their distinctive identity. The openings, with round arches or straight lintels depending on the level, are highlighted by sculpted keys and moulded window sills. The steeply pitched roof, in keeping with Nordic practice, is pierced with dormers whose triangular or curvilinear pediments add to the vertical dynamic of the composition. The ironwork details - railings, shutter brackets - add a touch of elegant craftsmanship that is characteristic of local know-how. The interior, in the tradition of Artesian mansions, would have featured a stone or turned-wood staircase, adjoining reception rooms on the first floor and vaulted brick cellars in the basement - an underground network of which Arras is particularly famous, the 'boves' having played a strategic role during the two world wars.
Related Figures
Vauban — ingénieur militaire de Louis XIV, dont les travaux de fortification à Arras remodelèrent l'urbanisme de la ville au XVIIe siècleMaximilien de Robespierre — natif d'Arras (1758), figure de la Révolution française dont l'itinéraire est indissociable du tissu urbain bourgeois de la villeCharles de Gaulle — né à Lille mais dont la famille paternelle était originaire de la région artésienneCardinal Mazarin — figura dans la reconquête de l'Artois par la France, scellant le destin de la région et de son architecturePaul-Marie Périn — architecte en chef des Monuments Historiques ayant supervisé la reconstruction et les restaurations arrageoises après 1919
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.