Maison à lucarne de type compagnonnique
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison à lucarne de type compagnonnique, located in Châteauroux (Indre), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Châteauroux, Indre, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 46.8106, 1.6972
- Mérimée Reference
- PA36000003
In the heart of the station district of Châteauroux, this house houses an exceptional dormer window designed by a Compagnon du Devoir: a masterpiece of carpentry with pagoda roofs and symbolic letters engraved in the zinc.
© Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia
History
At 50, rue de la Gare, in Châteauroux, stands a building dating from the end of the 19th century, whose sober, regular façade gives no hint of the extraordinary crown that awaits it on the roof. It is here, high up in the sky, that the genius of an exceptional craftsman is expressed: Hippolyte Moreau, Compagnon Passant Charpentier du Devoir, who turned this family building into a veritable showcase for his art, a testament in wood and zinc offered to the street and to posterity. What makes this monument absolutely unique is the very nature of its ornamentation: not stone sculptures or painted frescoes, but a dizzyingly complex dormer window, known as a "capucine biaise", made up of two circular cradles linked by a straight crossbeam, topped by pyramidal roofs with curved hips reminiscent of the roofs of an Asian pagoda. Within the voussoirs, the letters U.V.G.T. - Union, Vertu, Géométrie, Travail - recall the sacred mottos of the Compagnonnage du Devoir, engraved like a coat of arms on the house of a tradesman proud of his membership. To visit this house is to plunge into the fascinating world of French Compagnonnage, the age-old tradition of passing on craft skills through the Tour de France. In each curved ridge and each finial, you can read the "science of the line" - the art of tracing volumes in penetration - learnt during long years of travelling and training on local building sites. The polychromy of the cut slate and imitation zinc sheets creates a surprisingly modern interplay of textures and colours. The station area, in which this building is set, is itself a remarkable backdrop: an artery laid out in 1873 to link the town to its new station, Rue de la Gare still bears the traces of Châteauroux's industrial and commercial dynamism in the second half of the 19th century. Three houses on this street share the same signature carpentry, forming a group that is unique in France and probably in Europe, and has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1999.
Architecture
The building at 50 rue de la Gare has three storeys above a basement. Its long, street-facing facade is punctuated by rectangular windows on either side of a central passageway, whose pavilion-shaped roof features the most spectacular dormer in the complex. The architectural style of the facade is that of a late 19th-century middle-class tenement building, sober and functional, with no excess ornamentation - all the luxury being deliberately transferred to the roof. It is in this airy attic space that the true genius of the place blossoms. The main dormer is a "two-sided capucine with two circular cradles", a complex shape derived from the technical repertoire of the craftsmen, linked by a straight transom and topped by three connected pyramidal roofs. The large central roof has the silhouette of a pagoda, with upward-curving hips, a polygonal ridge and a small circular-based spire, tilted to the right and clad in zinc imitating slate. The side roofs - pyramids and cones - are articulated at the corners with a geometric precision that testifies to total mastery of the carpentry line. The polychrome decoration, achieved by combining slates in different colours and with different cut-outs, carefully crafted metal flashings and sculpted finials, gives the whole structure a remarkable visual richness, worthy of the greatest eclectic architecture of the Belle Époque.
Related Figures
Hippolyte Moreau, dit Berry-la-Conscience — Compagnon Passant Charpentier du Devoir, entrepreneur et créateur des lucarnes (1822-1900)Armand Viraud — gendre d'Hippolyte Moreau, entrepreneur de travaux publics, associé sur les chantiers châteaurousinsLes Compagnons du Devoir — confrérie artisanale fondatrice de la tradition du Tour de France et de la science du trait
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison à lucarne de type compagnonnique located?
Maison à lucarne de type compagnonnique is located in Châteauroux, Indre department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
When was Maison à lucarne de type compagnonnique built?
Maison à lucarne de type compagnonnique dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Maison à lucarne de type compagnonnique open to visitors?
Maison à lucarne de type compagnonnique is currently closed to visitors.