Maison à pignon jouxtant le Palais de Justice
Monument
Maison à pignon jouxtant le Palais de Justice, 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, 2.7764
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00107994
A discreet reminder of the 17th century in Arras, this gabled house adjoins the Palais de Justice and embodies Flemish civil architecture in all its refined sobriety. A heritage gem listed as a Historic Monument.
History
In the heart of Arras, a town whose Grand-Place and Place des Héros are famous for their Flemish Baroque facades, stands a deceptively discreet gabled house. Nestling against the side of the Palais de Justice, it is one of the rare examples of 17th-century civil architecture to have survived the centuries without losing much of its original character, in a town that has been severely tested by successive wars. What makes this residence truly singular is precisely its position next to the court building: where the great official buildings monopolise the eye, the gabled house imposes an intimate, almost obstinate presence. Its gable on the street - a typical feature of bourgeois architecture in Arras and Flanders - evokes the houses of merchants and notables that once punctuated the urban fabric of Arras, much of which was razed to the ground during the bombing raids of the First World War. To visit this house is to come face to face with a rare survival: 17th-century domestic architecture, ordinary in appearance but extraordinary in its persistence. Its brick and bluestone facade, measured proportions and stepped or scrolled gable tell the story of a time when the town of Arras, then the capital of the Spanish Netherlands before becoming part of France in 1659, was developing a hybrid architectural style, blending Flemish traditions with emerging French influences. The immediate surroundings add to the interest of the visit: the Palais de Justice, the nearby former Abbey of Saint-Vaast, the dynamic historic centre - all elements that help to place this house within a coherent architectural ensemble of exceptional richness for a town in the north of France. For heritage lovers, it's an opportunity to understand how the town has been rebuilt and preserved over the centuries.
Architecture
The gabled house is a faithful illustration of 17th-century bourgeois domestic architecture in the Artois region, where Flemish traditions converged with early French influences. Its most distinctive feature is, of course, its street gable, a fundamental characteristic of the Flemish house: raised above roof level, it can feature stepped recesses or Baroque scrolls, recurring motifs in civil buildings in the region at the time. This layout, inherited from medieval Flanders, identifies the house from the street and gives it a recognisable silhouette in the urban landscape. The façade probably combines local red brick - the dominant building material in the north of France - with bay frames and supporting elements in limestone bluestone, a chromatic contrast characteristic of regional architecture. The windows, with stone mullions or mullions following the fashion of the century, are arranged in regular bays, reflecting the concern for order and symmetry typical of the bourgeoisie of the period. The roof is covered with flat tiles or slate, with a steep slope as was customary in the Artois and Flanders regions to facilitate drainage of heavy rainfall. Its position next to the Palais de Justice gives the building a particular architectural constraint: built in a dense fabric, the house has been adapted to a constrained urban plot, optimising each level of height to provide functional living spaces. In keeping with the typical layout of this type of residence, the interior was to comprise a vaulted cellar, a ground floor for commercial or professional use, and upper floors reserved for living quarters, a layout typical of the bourgeois houses of the Grand Siècle.
Related Figures
Bourgeoisie arrageoise du XVIIe siècle (commanditaires probables de la construction)Officiers de justice et procureurs (occupants vraisemblables liés au Palais de Justice voisin)Maximiliano de Bournonville (gouverneur militaire des Pays-Bas espagnols, figure de l'Artois espagnol au XVIIe siècle)Louis XIV (dont la conquête de l'Artois en 1659 redéfinit le contexte politique de la maison)Robespierre (enfant d'Arras, symbole de la bourgeoisie arrageoise des siècles suivants)Inspecteurs des Monuments Historiques (ayant porté la protection de 1946)
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison à pignon jouxtant le Palais de Justice located?
Maison à pignon jouxtant le Palais de Justice is located in Arras, Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France region, France.
When was Maison à pignon jouxtant le Palais de Justice built?
Maison à pignon jouxtant le Palais de Justice dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison à pignon jouxtant le Palais de Justice open to visitors?
Maison à pignon jouxtant le Palais de Justice is currently closed to visitors.