Maison Trémolière
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison Trémolière, located in Cahors (Département 46), 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
- Cahors, Département 46, Occitanie
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.4461, 1.4429
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00095015
In the heart of medieval Cahors, Maison Trémolière juxtaposes two centuries of gilded stone architecture: a Gothic ground floor with a pointed arch and majestic 15th-century geminated windows.
History
Nestling in the dense urban fabric of Cahors, a city that was one of the great banking and trading centres of the Western Middle Ages, the Trémolière house is one of those silent witnesses that the centuries have spared. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1925, it offers the attentive visitor a lesson in medieval domestic architecture in the heart of the Lot, where limestone reigns supreme. What immediately sets the Trémolière house apart from other residences in the Lot is the legibility of its architectural stratification: in just a few metres of façade, you can read two centuries of building history. The ground floor, in its sober Gothic style, sits alongside a massive first floor and a later second floor, punctuated by remarkably elegant geminated windows. This superimposition alone tells the story of a house that has grown with its owners and with the times. The experience of visiting the house is first and foremost that of discovering it from the outside, of looking at a façade that gradually reveals itself. The main door, surmounted by a beautifully executed pointed arch, and the arch next to the former shop evoke the bustling commercial life of a Cadurci street in the Middle Ages. It's easy to imagine the merchants, clerks and money-changers who kept this area alive at a time when Cahors was competing with the great cities of European trade. The immediate surroundings add to the monument's charm: Cahors, encircled by the meandering River Lot, boasts a medieval heritage of rare density, from the Pont Valentré, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to Saint-Etienne's cathedral and its many timber-framed and stone houses. Maison Trémolière is an essential piece of this exceptional urban jigsaw.
Architecture
The Trémolière house has a three-storey elevation built entirely of limestone, an omnipresent local building material. The façade reveals two main phases of construction that are perfectly clear to the trained eye. The Gothic ground floor opens onto a door with a pointed arch, a characteristic feature of 13th and 14th century civil architecture in the Quercy region. Adjacent to this entrance, a second semi-circular arch of similar proportions indicates the existence of a shop or stall, a common commercial layout in the shopping streets of medieval towns in the Languedoc region. The first floor, from the same period and with the same bonding, adopts a massive and austere treatment in keeping with the bourgeois construction standards of the Midi. The second floor is the most attractive part of this façade. Built in the 15th century in the spirit of the flamboyant Gothic style, it features two large geminated windows - i.e. two bays joined together under the same arch - whose double mullions, which have now disappeared, would have formed a rich decoration of cut stone. Despite their modern alterations, these twin windows retain their original size and are sufficient to evoke the refinement their patrons wanted to display. The treatment of this façade, both sober in its structure and elegant in its openings, places the Trémolière house in the tradition of the great civil Gothic residences of south-western France.
Related Figures
Les marchands-banquiers cadurciens du XIIIe siècle (commanditaires probables de la construction initiale)La famille Trémolière (propriétaires éponymes, acteurs de l'extension du XVe siècle)Les inspecteurs des Monuments Historiques de 1925 (ayant instruit et accordé la protection patrimoniale)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison Trémolière located?
Maison Trémolière is located in Cahors, Département 46 department, Occitanie region, France.
When was Maison Trémolière built?
Maison Trémolière dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison Trémolière open to visitors?
Maison Trémolière is currently closed to visitors.