Maison à porte à fronton
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison à porte à fronton, located in Collinée (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
- Collinée, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.3004, -2.5191
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089063
In the heart of the village of Collinée, this 17th-century house fascinates visitors with its rare classical pedimented gateway, a discreet jewel of Breton civil architecture listed as a Historic Monument.
History
Nestling in the village of Collinée, on the edge of the Côtes-d'Armor region, the house with its pedimented door is one of those buildings that can easily be overlooked at first glance, until the detail of its doorway catches the eye. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1964, this 17th-century residence is a precious example of Breton civil architecture, in a region where large middle-class residences and rural manor houses still grace the towns and countryside. What fundamentally distinguishes this house from its neighbours is the elegance of its front door topped by a pediment. Borrowed from the classical vocabulary inherited from Antiquity and disseminated throughout France since the Renaissance, the pediment here is the sign of an assertive architectural ambition, of an owner anxious to display his culture and social success. In Brittany, this type of ornamentation is still relatively rare in ordinary domestic architecture, which gives the house an exceptional character in the small village of Collinée. This contrast between the apparent modesty of the setting - a village street, an ordinary urban fabric - and the sophistication of this architectural detail is precisely what makes the visit so memorable. To look at this gateway is to gain a glimpse into the life of a Grand Siècle nobleman, attached to the classical forms then in vogue in cultivated circles, and able to have them adopted by a skilled local craftsman. Collinée itself, a small rural commune in the former interior of Brittany, offers a relaxing and authentic setting, far from the beaten tourist track. The house is part of a discreet but real local heritage, which lovers of civil architecture and provincial history will appreciate to the full. An ideal stop-off for those travelling the back roads of the Côtes-d'Armor in search of forgotten heritage.
Architecture
The pediment-door house in Collinée belongs to the tradition of 17th-century Breton civil architecture, characterised by the use of local granite and a sober elegance inherited from classical influences. While the building has the balanced volumes and ordered facade typical of middle-class houses of the period - a two-storey elevation, steeply pitched roof covered in slate - it is the doorway that concentrates all the architectural and artistic value of the ensemble. The entrance door is crowned by a pediment, an element borrowed from the vocabulary of classical and Renaissance architecture. This pediment - which is probably triangular, the most common shape in this type of provincial building - rests on moulded jambs and frames a door leaf, the meticulous treatment of which contrasts with the usual roughness of rural woodwork. The whole constitutes a coherent composition, revealing the mastery of a craftsman capable of translating into granite the learned forms derived from the architectural treatises published under Louis XIII and Louis XIV. The walls are most likely built of granite rubble, a material that is almost universal in traditional buildings in the Côtes-d'Armor region, with ashlar quoins. The gable roof is covered in slate, in accordance with Breton custom. The overall stylistic coherence of this residence makes it an intact and legible example of Grand Siècle domestic architecture in inland Brittany.
Related Figures
Commanditaire anonyme du XVIIe siècle — notable bourgeois ou officier royal de Collinée, vraisemblable maître d'ouvrage de la demeureMaître maçon local — artisan anonyme ayant traduit en granit breton le vocabulaire classique du frontonAndré Malraux — ministre des Affaires culturelles sous la Ve République, dont l'action est à l'origine de la vague de protections MH des années 1960 ayant bénéficié à ce monument
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison à porte à fronton located?
Maison à porte à fronton is located in Collinée, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Maison à porte à fronton built?
Maison à porte à fronton dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison à porte à fronton open to visitors?
Maison à porte à fronton is currently closed to visitors.