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
- 50.2910, 2.7784
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00108099
In the heart of Arras, this listed building since 1919 embodies the Flemish and Baroque architectural elegance that shaped the legendary squares of the capital of Artois. It is an irreplaceable testimony to the genius of the builders of Northern France.
History
Arras is one of France's most remarkable towns in terms of the coherence and richness of its urban architectural heritage. Its emblematic squares - the Grand'Place and the Place des Héros - form one of the best-preserved groups of Flemish Baroque houses in Europe, and it is in this exceptional setting that this building, one of the first to be protected after the First World War, was classified as a Historic Monument by decree on 26 December 1919. What makes this building particularly remarkable is its stepped gabled facade, characteristic of the Flemish-Hispanic baroque style that flourished in Artois in the 17th and 18th centuries. The blind arcades on the ground floor, the pilasters punctuating the upper storeys and the sculpted dormer windows piercing the slate roofs make up an architectural grammar unique to Arras, inherited from Spanish rule and the intense trade with Flanders. To visit this building is to plunge into several centuries of Arras' urban history: cloth merchants, bourgeois notables, wool and textile craftsmen have successively inhabited and shaped these walls, weaving the economic and social fabric of a town that was for a long time one of the most prosperous in northern France. The region's blue-grey stone, cut with precision, lends the whole a luminous patina that is particularly striking in the setting sun. The surrounding urban setting amplifies the experience: the 155 arcaded houses of the Grand'Place and Place des Héros create a unified setting rarely equalled in France, where each building interacts with its neighbours in an almost musical harmony. Photographers, history buffs and architecture enthusiasts will find plenty here to enjoy at any time of day.
Architecture
The building belongs to the body of urban civil architecture typical of Arras, whose style is often described as Flemish Baroque or Spanish-Flemish. Façades of this type invariably feature stepped or scrolled gables reaching skywards, punctuated by pilasters and cornices in local blue limestone, the preferred material of Arras builders for its strength and beautiful grey-blue colour. On the ground floor, semi-circular or slightly lowered arches create a continuous covered passageway, characteristic of the squares in the Arras region, which in the past enabled merchants and shoppers to move around sheltered from the elements. The upper floors are pierced with mullioned or transomed windows, depending on the period, framed by engaged pilasters and topped with moulded cornices that mark the vertical progression of the façade. The steeply pitched roof, in the Nordic tradition, is covered in natural slate and enlivened by sculpted dormer windows. The interior structure follows the typical plan of the Flemish bourgeois house: a succession of deep, narrow rooms arranged around a central stone or carved wooden staircase. The spacious interiors, often with monumental fireplaces and beamed ceilings, reflect a concern for habitability combined with a real quest for decoration. The use of local ashlar gives the buildings a solidity and consistency of colour that have stood the test of time.
Related Figures
Pierre Paquet — architecte en chef des Monuments Historiques, maître d'œuvre de la reconstruction d'Arras après 1918Maximilien de Robespierre — natif d'Arras, dont la famille habitait des immeubles similaires dans le tissu urbain arrageois du XVIIIe sièclePhilippe II d'Espagne — souverain des Pays-Bas espagnols sous lequel s'est développé le style architectural caractéristique de la villeAlbert Ier de Belgique — dont les troupes alliées ont libéré Arras et contribué à la décision de reconstruire et protéger son patrimoineLouis XIV — dont la conquête de l'Artois en 1659 a intégré Arras au royaume de France tout en préservant son architecture flamande
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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.