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
- 50.2907, 2.7775
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00108090
In the heart of Arras, this building, listed as a Historic Monument since 1919, embodies the Flemish elegance of the Grand'Place, with its sandstone arcades and stepped gabled facades characteristic of the Northern Baroque style.
History
Arras, the capital of the Pas-de-Calais region, is one of France's most remarkable cities for its architectural heritage in the Flemish and Baroque styles of the North. Its twin squares - the Grand'Place and the Place des Héros - make up one of the most coherent and photogenic urban ensembles in France, and it is in this exceptional setting that this listed building stands as a testament to the art of building that has made Arras famous down the centuries. The building belongs to the family of bourgeois residences and commercial houses that line the town's white sandstone arcades. These buildings, rebuilt or extensively altered in the 17th and 18th centuries after the successive destructions associated with the Wars of Religion and the Franco-Spanish conflicts, feature a hybrid architecture combining local Flemish traditions and classical French influences. Stepped gables, ornate dormer windows, stacked pilasters and arcades on the ground floor form an immediately recognisable architectural vocabulary. What makes this building so special is precisely the fact that it is part of a remarkably well-preserved urban fabric, where each façade interacts with its neighbours in a skilfully composed harmony. Its classification in 1919 - one of the first waves of protection for French heritage, carried out in the context of post-First World War reconstruction - bears witness to the authorities' desire to preserve the architectural identity of Arras, which had been hard hit by the bombardments. A visit to the building and its immediate surroundings offers a glimpse into several centuries of the economic and social history of northern France: Arras was one of the great trading centres of medieval Europe, renowned for its cloth and famous tapestries - "arras" - whose name became the generic term for this textile technique in English. The façades of these buildings still bear witness to this prosperous trading centre.
Architecture
The listed building in Arras is part of the great tradition of civil architecture in northern France, a direct descendant of the Flemish and Spanish models that characterised the region's 17th and 18th century buildings. The façade, laid out according to Northern Baroque principles, is distinguished by its superimposed levels punctuated by pilasters or engaged columns, its mullioned or transomed windows framed by elaborate mouldings, and its stepped gable roof - an iconic motif in Flemish architecture - which gives the building its distinctive silhouette. The ground floor, traditional for this type of building in Arras, opens onto the squares through a semi-circular arcade resting on carved sandstone pillars. These covered galleries, which run around the entire perimeter of the two squares, form an ambulatory protected from the elements, a vestige of medieval urban organisation designed to facilitate trade. The ashlar of white sandstone limestone, quarried in the region, is the dominant material in the walls, while the roofs of northern blue slate complete the chromatic composition characteristic of the urban landscape of Arras. Inside, the typical layout of this type of building includes vast barrel-vaulted or cross-vaulted cellars, evidence of the commercial and storage uses to which these homes were put for centuries. The upper floors, accessible by spiral or straight staircases depending on the period of construction, house reception rooms with exposed joist or moulded coffered ceilings, testifying to the care taken with interior decoration.
Related Figures
Louis XIV — dont la reconquête d'Arras en 1640 et le traité des Pyrénées de 1659 marquèrent le retour définitif de la ville dans le giron français, relançant la construction civileMaximilien de Robespierre — né à Arras en 1758, figure tutélaire de la ville dont les immeubles de la Grand'Place formaient le cadre quotidienJoseph Duthoit — architecte arrageois du XIXe siècle, actif dans la restauration du patrimoine régionalAlbert Châtelet — architecte en chef des Monuments Historiques ayant supervisé la reconstruction d'Arras après 1918Philippe II d'Espagne — dont la domination (1493-1640) marqua profondément l'architecture arrageoise de son empreinte baroque flamandeLes maîtres tailleurs de pierre des guildes arrageoises — artisans anonymes dont le savoir-faire transmis de génération en génération façonna l'identité architecturale de la ville
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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.