Maison de Saint-Malo
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison de Saint-Malo, located in Saint-Malo (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
- Saint-Malo, Département 35, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.6509, -2.0259
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090868
Vestige précieux de l'enceinte primitive de Saint-Malo, cette demeure du XVIIe siècle incarne l'âme de la cité corsaire : granit intraitable, silhouette austère et histoire bâtie sur les vents du large.
History
Some of the houses in Saint-Malo's intramural streets are more than just dwellings: they are memories in stone. This 17th-century residence, listed as a Historic Monument since 1946, belongs to this rare category. Part of the original city walls of Saint-Malo, it bears witness to a time when the ramparts and civil buildings were one and the same, when each wall was both a domestic refuge and a line of defence. What makes this building truly unique is its pivotal position in the historical topography of Saint-Malo. Built against or as part of the original fortifications, the house played a part in the town's dual role of protecting itself from the onslaught of the sea while at the same time opening up to Atlantic trade. The compact facades, measured openings and dark granite of this generation of houses in Saint-Malo reflect the fundamental tension between fortress and home. Although the interior is not systematically accessible to the public, the experience of visiting the house is part of the stroll through the walled city. To see this residence from the adjacent cobbled streets is to grasp a fragment of pre-industrial urbanism intact - or almost. After the massive destruction of 1944 and the meticulous reconstruction that followed, the rare authentic remains of the 17th century are all the more precious for their heritage value. The setting, of course, is inseparable from the building. The city of Saint-Malo, with its ramparts battered by the Channel winds, its smell of iodine and wet granite, is one of the most powerful urban environments in France. This house takes on its full meaning here: it is a living chronological landmark in a city that has managed, against all the odds, to preserve the spirit of its origins.
Architecture
The architecture of this 17th-century house is fully in keeping with the tradition of Saint Malo's middle-class residences, characterised by the almost exclusive use of local granite - a dark, dense rock extracted from Breton quarries, which gives the façades that blue-grey hue so distinctive of Atlantic foggy days. The thick walls, inherited from a time when the building was part of a defensive wall, provide remarkable thermal inertia and bear witness to a construction designed to last. The façade is probably typical of the Malouin style of the period: modestly proportioned windows, ashlar surrounds and a vertical composition dictated by the narrowness of the plots within the walls. The steeply pitched roofs, covered in Breton slate, were designed to meet the climatic requirements of a town exposed to the prevailing winds from the English Channel. Chimney stacks, often massive in this type of construction, punctuate the ridge lines. What fundamentally distinguishes this house from an ordinary bourgeois residence is its integration into the original enclosure. This feature probably implies atypical construction arrangements: walls adjoining the fortification, levels adapted to the constraints of the rampart, even re-use of pre-existing materials and defensive structures. These hybrids between military and domestic architecture are one of the most original features of Saint-Malo's historic buildings.
Related Figures
Vauban — ingénieur militaire qui remania les fortifications de Saint-Malo à la fin du XVIIe siècle, contexte dans lequel s'inscrit la maisonRené Duguay-Trouin — corsaire malouin célèbre (1673-1736), contemporain de la maison, symbole de la prospérité maritime de l'époqueRobert Surcouf — corsaire malouin légendaire (1773-1827), figure de la ville close où se situe la demeureFrançois-René de Chateaubriand — natif de Saint-Malo (1768), dont l'enfance intra-muros résonne avec le tissu urbain de cette époqueJacques Cartier — navigateur malouin (1491-1557), précurseur de la prospérité maritime qui permit l'essor des demeures comme celle-ci
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison de Saint-Malo located?
Maison de Saint-Malo is located in Saint-Malo, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Maison de Saint-Malo built?
Maison de Saint-Malo dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison de Saint-Malo open to visitors?
Maison de Saint-Malo is currently closed to visitors.
