Maison du 15e siècle
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison du 15e siècle, located in Rennes (Département 35), 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
- Rennes, Département 35, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.1115, -1.6767
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090734
This 15th-century timber-framed house, which survived the medieval fires of Rennes, still boasts sculpted eaves and small-paned windows overlooking the streets of the old town.
History
In the heart of the old town of Rennes, where the narrow streets still preserve the memory of a medieval city almost entirely consumed by the great fire of 1720, this timber-framed house is a rare and precious exception. Mentioned as early as 1461 in the local archives, it is one of a small number of medieval civil dwellings to have survived the centuries, wars and fire, offering the attentive walker an authentic fragment of the urban fabric of Rennes in the days before the classical city. What makes this house truly singular is the quality of its exterior ornamentation: its avant-soliers - the sculpted façade beams running horizontally between the levels - bear witness to the care taken by Breton craftsmen to embellish bourgeois residences. The eye is immediately drawn to the small round-headed door, whose carefully crafted roundness contrasts with the lightness of the half-timbered structure, and to the oculus, now blocked, which originally let light into the interior spaces. The façade features a series of small-paned windows, typical of 15th and 16th century Breton domestic architecture, and is crowned by a high, irregular roof whose coyaux - curved rafters at the bottom of the slope - soften the transition between the roof slope and the street. This characteristic silhouette, slightly broken at the foot of the roof, is one of the signatures of Rennes' traditional buildings. The two corbelled storeys, one of which was partially removed during later works, give the building a slight bow that seems to advance above the passer-by, an attitude so common in medieval towns that the upper storeys sometimes brushed up against each other from one street to the next. Contemplating this facade today takes us back in time to a Rennes where the streets were lined with shadows and the wood crackled with every season.
Architecture
The house is part of the timber-framed civil architecture typical of towns in western France in the 15th century. Its load-bearing structure is provided by a timber frame - posts, runners, braces and infill - the horizontal elements of which, the eaves, are decorated with carvings that distinguish the house from more modest buildings. The infill between the wooden members is probably cob or mud brick, rendered and whitewashed. The facade is organised around a round-arched entrance door, a characteristic arch of the late Middle Ages in Brittany, topped by a circular oculus that is now closed. Windows with small panes of glass set in lead regularly punctuate the levels, recreating the luminous, intimate atmosphere of medieval interiors. Two storeys are corbelled onto the street - one of them having been brought back to plumb with the façade during the 17th-century works - giving the building its evocative, slightly overhanging profile. The high, irregularly pitched roof ends in coyaux at the foot of the slope - a subtle curve that slightly raises the eaves and prevents water from splashing too far from the foot of the façade. This technical detail, common in traditional Breton architecture, is also one of the most attractive aesthetic elements of the house's silhouette, giving it an airy lightness that counterbalances the power of the frame.
Related Figures
Jacques Gabriel (architecte de la reconstruction de Rennes après 1720, dont l'œuvre classique contraste avec l'héritage médiéval de cette maison)Anne de Bretagne (duchesse dont le règne couvre la période de construction de la maison, vers 1461-1514)Les bourgeois rennais du XVe siècle (propriétaires et commanditaires présumés de la demeure)Les charpentiers bretons du XVe siècle (artisans auteurs des avant-soliers sculptés)
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison du 15e siècle located?
Maison du 15e siècle is located in Rennes, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Maison du 15e siècle built?
Maison du 15e siècle dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison du 15e siècle open to visitors?
Maison du 15e siècle is currently closed to visitors.
