Maison dite de la Pomme
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison dite de la Pomme, located in Orléans (Loiret), 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
- Orléans, Loiret, Centre-Val de Loire
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.9008, 1.9052
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00098891
The Maison de la Pomme, a Renaissance jewel in the heart of old Orléans, boasts a timber-framed facade carved with rare grace, an exceptional example of 16th-century Loire civil architecture.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
In the heart of the old town of Orléans, the Maison dite de la Pomme stands out as one of the rare surviving examples of 16th-century bourgeois housing in a town that was deeply damaged by the bombardments of the Second World War. Its very presence in the urban fabric is a heritage miracle, and that's undoubtedly why it attracts so much attention from those who know how to look beyond the contemporary signs. The building probably takes its nickname from the carved pine cone or apple that once adorned part of its façade - a recurring motif in Renaissance iconography, a symbol of fertility, prosperity and wisdom that Orléans craftsmen were particularly fond of decorating the homes of the merchant bourgeoisie. This type of timber-framed house, with its progressive corbelling and carefully squared beams, represents the pinnacle of Loire carpentry skills at a time when Orléans was undergoing a period of spectacular reconstruction and embellishment. To visit the Maison de la Pomme is to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of a prosperous market town, in those decades after the end of the Hundred Years' War when Orléans rose from the ashes. The façade speaks of this new-found confidence: it doesn't just shelter, it shows off and demonstrates. Every sculpted detail - mouldings, crossettes, miniature capitals - testifies to the desire of a wealthy owner to assert his social status in stone and wood. Set in a street in the historic centre, the house benefits from an urban setting that is still legible despite the transformations of the last century. It sits alongside a number of other vestiges of Orléans' pre-industrial architecture, offering the attentive walker a fragmentary but valuable insight into Renaissance Orléans.
Architecture
The Maison de la Pomme is a timber-framed building typical of 16th-century civil architecture in the Loire. Its facade features elements typical of this type of construction in the Loire region: an exposed oak frame made up of posts, struts and runners, with a cob or brick infill, and successive corbels allowing each storey to overhang slightly onto the one below, thus increasing the living space while giving the facade its characteristic rhythm. The sculpted decoration is the building's main attraction. The visible structural elements - corner posts, runners, lintels - are adorned with Renaissance motifs: interlacing, scrolls, rosettes, heads in profile or plant motifs finely carved in oak. The apple that gives the house its name, whether a stylised pine cone or a fruit carved in relief, is part of this decorative repertoire borrowed from Italian plastic art as it spread through the Loire Valley in contact with the great royal building sites. The roof, steeply pitched in accordance with regional custom and covered in flat tiles or Loire slate, crowns the ensemble with cross-hipped dormers reflecting the same ornamental concern. The interior, which has been altered over the centuries, would have contained the usual features of middle-class houses of the period: a large ground-floor hall opening onto the street for commercial activities, a spiral staircase leading to the upper floors reserved for living quarters, and vaulted cellars used for storing goods.
Related Figures
Jeanne d'Arc — libératrice d'Orléans en 1429, dont l'épopée constitue le contexte historique de la renaissance de la ville qui permit la construction de telles demeuresFrançois Ier — roi de France dont le mécénat architectural transforma la Loire en berceau de la Renaissance française et influença directement les artisans orléanaisUn marchand orléanais anonyme du XVIe siècle — commanditaire probable de la maison, représentant de la prospère bourgeoisie négoçiante ligérienneLouis Courajod — historien de l'art et pionnier de l'inventaire du patrimoine civil français au XIXe siècle, dont les travaux préparèrent les grandes campagnes de protection des années 1920Les charpentiers et sculpteurs sur bois orléanais — artisans anonymes formés dans la tradition ligérienne et au contact des ateliers des grands chantiers royaux de la Loire
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison dite de la Pomme located?
Maison dite de la Pomme is located in Orléans, Loiret department, Centre-Val de Loire region, France.
When was Maison dite de la Pomme built?
Maison dite de la Pomme dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison dite de la Pomme open to visitors?
Maison dite de la Pomme is currently closed to visitors.