Maisons
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maisons, located in Roscoff (Département 29), 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
- Roscoff, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.7260, -3.9864
- Mérimée Reference
- PA29000024
In the heart of Roscoff, these two merchant's houses reveal four centuries of Breton history: 16th-century Léonard façades and 18th-century bourgeois interiors, witness to exceptional maritime prosperity.
History
At 16 and 18 rue Albert-de-Mun, right in the heart of old Roscoff, stand two inseparable houses whose shared history betrays the fortune and ambition of a great family of merchant-armourers from Léon. Listed as Historic Monuments in 1997, they illustrate with rare precision the evolution of middle-class housing in Brittany between the end of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, in a town at that time turned towards large-scale maritime trade and exchanges with England and the Netherlands. The oldest house, Ty-Coz ("old house" in Breton), dates back to the last quarter of the 16th century. Its sober design - one square storey, two large rooms one above the other with fireplaces in the gables - betrays a primarily commercial vocation, typical of the trading houses of the period. The granite walls from Léon give it the elegant austerity characteristic of Roscovite architecture, so different from the decorative profusion of the hotels on the southern coast. In 1749, the construction of an adjoining house radically transformed the ensemble: the addition not only increased the living space, it also transformed the residence into a true bourgeois residence, complete with wood panelling, reception rooms and a meticulous interior layout. This refinement testifies to the social ascent of a family line that, in the space of two generations, went from active trading to income and the art of living. The interior reveals several layers of time to the attentive visitor: the eighteenth-century panelled partitions interact with the massive structure of the Renaissance building, while the stair tower remains the pivot of the entire vertical layout. The separation of the complex into two separate entities in 1909 certainly broke up the original unity, but paradoxically preserved the relative architectural authenticity of each of the two houses. Roscoff, a corsair town and renowned health port, offers these houses an exceptional setting: just a stone's throw from the church of Notre-Dame de Croas-Batz and the port, they form part of a remarkably coherent urban fabric dating from the 16th to 18th centuries, listed as one of Brittany's finest architectural ensembles.
Architecture
The architecture of these two houses is a perfect illustration of the Leonard building tradition, based on the use of bluish granite extracted from quarries in the Roscoff region. The 16th-century house has a sober, functional architectural style: a one-storey, square main building with a gable roof and mullioned windows typical of the late Breton Renaissance. The massive, blind gable walls support the interior fireplaces, a common technical solution in commercial houses at the end of the 16th century. The staircase tower, a structuring element of the complex, is the only vertical link between the levels, in a system inherited from medieval architecture. The house built in 1749 adopts a more classical vocabulary, in keeping with the architectural tastes of the mid-eighteenth century: the openings are more regular, the proportions more balanced, and the street façade reflects a quest for symmetry and social representation that is absent from the older building. Today, the ensemble forms a continuous façade on rue Albert-de-Mun, where the juxtaposition of two styles - late Renaissance and provincial classicism - is in itself a highly legible architectural document. Inside, the eighteenth-century wood panelling - living room partitions, dining room panelling, distribution corridor - is one of the most precious decorative elements of the complex. They bear witness to the refinement achieved by Breton woodworkers under the influence of the Parisian models disseminated by architectural treatises, and give these rooms an atmosphere of discreet elegance characteristic of the enlightened provincial bourgeoisie of the reign of Louis XV.
Related Figures
Mathieu Le Hir du Carpont et de Keramanach — marchand-armateur roscovite, commanditaire de la maison originelle à la fin du XVIe siècleLa famille Le Hir — lignée de négociants léonards, figure de proue du commerce maritime breton entre Roscoff et les ports d'Europe du NordPropriétaires de 1749 — commanditaires de l'agrandissement et du réaménagement intérieur en résidence bourgeoisePropriétaires de 1909 — responsables de la division de l'ensemble en deux maisons indépendantes, marquant la fin d'une unité bicentenaire
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maisons located?
Maisons is located in Roscoff, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Maisons built?
Maisons dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maisons open to visitors?
Maisons is currently closed to visitors.