Maison dite Maison de Gassies
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison dite Maison de Gassies, located in Saint-Macaire (Gironde), 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
- Saint-Macaire, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.5653, -0.2253
- Mérimée Reference
- PA33000062
In the heart of Saint-Macaire, this 16th-century Renaissance residence boasts a spiral staircase tower, period fireplaces and remarkable mullioned windows, bearing witness to a refined Gascon way of life.
History
Nestling in one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the Gironde, the house known as the Maison de Gassies is one of the jewels in the crown of Saint-Macaire, a fortified town suspended above the left bank of the Garonne. Built or extensively altered during the 16th century, it belongs to the generation of bourgeois residences that flourished in Guyenne when the wine trade and notarial or judicial functions enriched a new urban elite eager to display its success in stone. What sets the Maison de Gassies apart from other local buildings is the consistency of its Renaissance architectural features, despite the vicissitudes of time. The spiral staircase tower, grafted onto the main building, is in itself a piece of anthology: this feature, inherited from the late Gothic period but integrated here into a Renaissance composition, once signalled the standing of its owner to all passers-by in the lane. Inside, the original fireplaces, with their moulded mantels, are a reminder of the high standards of the Valois period. A visit to the house, even from the street, offers an almost archaeological interpretation of Gascon civil architecture. The mullioned windows - limestone carved into lattices that cut the light into regular quadrilaterals - punctuate the façades with a sober elegance, characteristic of a regional style that had not yet given in to the ornamental excesses of the Italianate Renaissance. This restraint is what gives the building its charm. The setting of Saint-Macaire amplifies the experience: listed as one of the Most Beautiful Villages in France, the town surrounds the Maison de Gassies in an almost intact medieval urban fabric - ramparts, fortified gates, Romanesque priory. A walk from the Maison de Gassies to the ramparts takes you through seven centuries of history without ever leaving the few-hectare enclosure. Photographers, history buffs and architecture enthusiasts will find inexhaustible material here.
Architecture
The Gassies house is part of the civil Renaissance architecture of Guyenne, a regional trend that blends the late Gothic heritage - in the rigour of its volumes and the solidity of its structures - with the new decorative sensibilities that came from Italy via the royal building sites in the Loire Valley. The main building, built in the blond limestone typical of the Bordeaux region, features façades punctuated by mullioned windows: these stone crosspieces, whose horizontal crosspiece intersects the vertical mullion, cut the openings with a geometric sobriety typical of the region's 16th century. The most remarkable feature of the exterior composition is undoubtedly the spiral staircase tower, set against the dwelling and signalling the social rank of its former inhabitants from the street. This type of device, inherited from medieval tradition but reinterpreted in Renaissance style, allowed the different levels of the residence to be served independently, a sign of an already sophisticated interior organisation. The stone screw, nestling in its cylindrical or polygonal cage, is in itself a feat of stonemasonry that the region's journeymen stonemasons mastered to perfection. Inside, the original fireplaces are the centrepieces of the décor. Their moulded limestone mantels bear witness to the care taken in fitting out the reception rooms, with cavet, quarter-round or torus profiles that follow the ornamental repertoire of the early French Renaissance. Restoration work in the 19th century has partially altered certain original features, but the authentic elements that have been preserved are enough to recreate the refined atmosphere of a Gascon bourgeois residence from the time of the last Valois.
Related Figures
La famille de Gassies — propriétaires présumés du XVIe siècle ayant donné leur nom à la demeure, probablement marchands ou officiers royaux prospères de Saint-MacaireFrançois Ier — dont le règne (1515-1547) correspond à l'âge d'or des reconstructions bourgeoises en Guyenne et à la diffusion du style Renaissance en provinceLes maîtres tailleurs de pierre bordelais — artisans anonymes qui ont sculpté la tour à vis et les fenêtres à meneaux selon la tradition compagnonnique régionaleProsper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques qui, lors de ses tournées en Guyenne au XIXe siècle, contribua à sensibiliser l'opinion à la sauvegarde du patrimoine civil de bourgs comme Saint-Macaire
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison dite Maison de Gassies located?
Maison dite Maison de Gassies is located in Saint-Macaire, Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Maison dite Maison de Gassies built?
Maison dite Maison de Gassies dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison dite Maison de Gassies open to visitors?
Maison dite Maison de Gassies is currently closed to visitors.
