Maison dite des Consuls, ou Hôtel de Plamon, ou Hôtel de Tapinois de Beton, located in Sarlat-la-Canéda (Dordogne), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Sarlat's medieval jewel, the Hôtel de Plamon boasts a Gothic façade crowned with Renaissance accents, where ogival arches and Louis XIII balconies combine in a rare architectural dialogue.
At the heart of old Sarlat, the hôtel de Plamon — also known as the maison des Consuls or hôtel de Tapinois de Beton — stands as one of the best-preserved medieval urban residences in the Périgord Noir. Its façade of golden blonde ashlar, typical of the limestone found in Sarlat, reads like an open book spanning several centuries of French architectural history, from the Gothic ogival arch to the baroque fancy of wrought ironwork. What makes this building truly singular is the coherent layering of styles that successive centuries have deposited upon its walls without ever disfiguring them. The ground floor, pierced by four large ogival bays reminiscent of the arcades of a prosperous medieval merchant, contrasts elegantly with the upper levels, which open onto mullioned windows in the Renaissance style. The gable, cut away at mid-height and adorned with the remains of trefoil windows, bears witness to the successive transformations that the residence has managed to absorb with grace. The visit holds an additional surprise for those who take the time to cross the threshold and enter the inner courtyard: an open-air staircase, fitted with a 17th-century baluster railing, reveals the domestic and aristocratic life that once unfolded away from public view. The squinch supporting the rounded wrought-iron balcony, a remarkable feat of craftsmanship for its time, attests to the skill of local artisans and to the aesthetic ambitions of successive owners. Listed as a Monument Historique as early as 1889, the hôtel de Plamon benefits from a protection that has made it possible to preserve the essential fabric of its original substance, including its lauze roof — those characteristic limestone slabs of the Périgord — partially retained despite some replacement with mechanical tiles. Situated within the labyrinth of alleyways in Sarlat, it constitutes an unmissable stopping point on any exploration of the historic town centre, itself ranked amongst the finest medieval ensembles in France.
The hôtel de Plamon is distinguished by a façade of dressed limestone that superimposes, with remarkable coherence, three major architectural phases. The Gothic ground floor, pierced by four large pointed-arch bays of considerable height, is evocative of the commercial loggias or open market halls characteristic of medieval merchant architecture in the south-west. One of these bays is particularly noteworthy: it opens onto a stone trompe, an ingenious technical solution consisting of a corbelled vault that supports the rounded balcony on the floor above, whose wrought-iron railing constitutes a rare example of the Louis XIII style in the urban setting of Sarlat. The upper levels adopt the Renaissance vocabulary, with mullioned windows and a more ordered composition, whilst the cut gable, a vestige of an earlier elevation, retains traces of trefoil windows that bear witness to the Flamboyant Gothic state of the building prior to its sixteenth-century alterations. The original lauze roofing — those thick limestone slabs particular to the Périgord Noir and the Quercy — survives in part, although repairs carried out using machine-made tiles are visible. The inner courtyard, accessible via an open-air staircase, features a seventeenth-century balustraded railing, a testament to the aristocratic art of living that once prevailed in these surroundings and to the care bestowed upon semi-private reception spaces.
Maison dite des Consuls, ou Hôtel de Plamon, ou Hôtel de Tapinois de Beton is located in Sarlat-la-Canéda, Dordogne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
Maison dite des Consuls, ou Hôtel de Plamon, ou Hôtel de Tapinois de Beton dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Maison dite des Consuls, ou Hôtel de Plamon, ou Hôtel de Tapinois de Beton is currently closed to visitors.
