Maison du 16e siècle
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison du 16e siècle, located in Pontrieux (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
- Pontrieux, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.6976, -3.1589
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089540
A jewel of 16th-century Breton civil architecture, this timber-framed house in Pontrieux stands out for its successive corbels and its slate cladding - a rare and intact testimony to the prosperity of the merchants on the Trégor coast.
History
In the heart of Pontrieux, a small market town in the Côtes-d'Armor region crossed by the river Trieux, a timber-framed house stands like a manifesto of Breton Renaissance civil architecture. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1926, it belongs to that precious category of ordinary buildings that tell us more about the daily life of an era than many a cathedral: the home of a wealthy merchant or craftsman, built to last and to show. What immediately distinguishes this residence is the superimposition of its corbels, the successive projections of each storey onto the next, a technique characteristic of Renaissance timber construction that made it possible to gain living space while asserting social status. The runners - the horizontal beams that crown each storey - are finely profiled and sit gracefully on the sculpted brackets that support the corbels. A rare level of ornamental care for this type of utilitarian building. The second storey and gable reveal another unusual feature: their large slate cladding, laid in a series of water drains, forms a veritable scaly armour against the Breton rains. This type of slate cladding, halfway between the practical and the aesthetic, has become so rare that its presence here gives the house exceptional documentary value for historians of regional architecture. To visit this house is to stop in front of an almost intact fragment of a medieval town, in a commune where the banks of the Trieux still preserve a few other old houses. The confrontation between the dark wooden structure, the overhanging corbels and the grey slate flakes offers photographers a composition of remarkable visual density, particularly in the low-angled light of the morning or late afternoon.
Architecture
The house is part of the medieval and Renaissance timber-frame construction tradition, which was widespread in inland Brittany and in the trading towns of the Trégor region until the end of the 16th century. Its facade is built over several storeys, punctuated by successive corbels: each storey slightly overhangs the one below, giving the whole structure the inverted-pyramid silhouette so characteristic of Northern European half-timbered houses. This process, which is both structural and symbolic, maximises the surface area of the upper storeys while protecting the façade from rainwater. The runners deserve special attention: far from being simple structural elements, they are adorned with moulded profiles that are carefully cushioned on the sculpted brackets supporting the corbels. This modest but meticulous decorative treatment betrays the hand of a skilled carpenter and the desire of the client to display a certain refinement. The gable, in line with the facade, rises to a point and, together with the second storey, retains an exceptional cladding: large slates laid in successive water jets form a veritable scaly cuirass, a vernacular technical solution typical of northern Brittany for protecting wooden structures from the Atlantic weather. This slate cladding, which is both functional and decorative, is one of the building's most remarkable and best-preserved features.
Related Figures
Commanditaire anonyme du XVIe siècle — vraisemblablement un marchand ou artisan aisé de PontrieuxCharpentier bâtisseur inconnu — auteur du décor sculpté des sablières et consolesInspecteur des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription en 1926
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison du 16e siècle located?
Maison du 16e siècle is located in Pontrieux, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Maison du 16e siècle built?
Maison du 16e siècle dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison du 16e siècle open to visitors?
Maison du 16e siècle is currently closed to visitors.