Immeuble
MonumentHidden Treasure
Immeuble, located in Saint-Brieuc (Département 22), 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
- Saint-Brieuc, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.5154, -2.7604
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089598
A rare example of Breton urban architecture from the early 18th century, this timber-framed house in Saint-Brieuc proudly bears the date 1701 engraved in the stone, combining half-timbering and masonry with a sober, authentic elegance.
History
In the heart of Saint-Brieuc, the capital of the Côtes-d'Armor region, stands one of the rare timber-framed houses to have survived the urban transformations of the 19th and 20th centuries. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1971, it is a precious architectural testimony to an art of building that was once ubiquitous in Breton towns, before fire, demolition and modernisation almost wiped it out. What makes this building unique is the harmonious cohabitation of two complementary construction techniques: the ashlar base, solid and resistant to the dampness of the Armorican climate, and the lighter, half-timbered upper storey, structured by a fine network of wooden posts and crossbeams. This material duality is not just aesthetic - it reflects the constructive wisdom of the craftsmen of Grand Siècle Brittany, who were as attentive to climatic constraints as they were to social customs. The façade reveals a refined ornamental vocabulary for a provincial bourgeois house: the exposed joist beam is punctuated by dentils, a discreet motif borrowed from the classical repertoire, while the half-timbered bays are punctuated by small wooden pilasters that structure the composition in regular compartments. A window in the centre of each bay illuminates the interior spaces, giving the whole a legibility and scale characteristic of the aesthetic of the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. To see this building is to plunge back into the Saint-Brieuc of Louis XIV and Louis XV, that of the merchants, notaries and small businessmen who kept a prosperous episcopal city alive. Visitors sensitive to the texture of the past will find it an authentic experience, far removed from the grand tourist reconstructions. The stone engraved with the date 1701 - still legible on the façade - is in itself a direct and almost intimate contact with the builders of more than three centuries ago.
Architecture
The building is composed in two superimposed registers, reflecting a constructive logic that is both functional and aesthetic. The base is made entirely of stone masonry, a robust material that can withstand the humidity and seepage typical of Breton soil. This mineral base anchors the building firmly and gives it a stable foundation, in keeping with the building practices in use in the region at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first floor is radically different, with its use of half-timbering, a technique inherited from medieval construction but reinterpreted here with a clearly classical concern for regularity and ornament. The bay is structured by small wooden pilasters that divide the facade into well-defined compartments, with plainly framed windows opening in the centre. The joist beam, which marks the boundary between the stone base and the half-timbered upper storey, is adorned with a band of dentils - a motif borrowed from ancient and classical architecture and disseminated by the collections of architectural models of the period - which adds a discreet note of refinement to the whole. The façade as a whole betrays the hand of a local carpenter/builder who mastered the codes of provincial classicism, capable of integrating learned references into an essentially traditional construction. The overall effect is one of quality urban domestic architecture, without ostentation but with an obvious mastery of the craft.
Related Figures
Maître charpentier bâtisseur de 1701 (identité non documentée, artisan local)Commanditaire bourgeois de 1701 (propriétaire fondateur, identité inconnue)Inspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit l'inscription de 1971
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Immeuble located?
Immeuble is located in Saint-Brieuc, Département 22 department, Bretagne 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.