Malouinière de la Verderie, à Saint-Servan
MonumentHidden Treasure
Malouinière de la Verderie, à Saint-Servan, 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
- 48.6349, -2.0128
- Mérimée Reference
- PA35000014
With its octagonal staircase tower and period panelling, La Verderie, a 17th-century former malouinière, epitomises the transition between late medieval architecture and the elegance of the great houses of Saint Malo.
History
Nestling in the former market town of Saint-Servan, now part of the municipality of Saint-Malo, the malouinière de la Verderie is one of the rare residences to physically embody the transition from one world to another: when medieval Breton architecture, still clinging to its towers and L-shaped plans, began to give way under the pressure of a new taste for symmetry and classical layout. Built in 1637, it predates by one or two generations the great "malouinières" that will be the glory of the Malouin shipowners and privateers, and it is precisely this status as the missing link that makes it such a valuable object of study and visit. What makes La Verderie truly unique is the tension that can be seen on every stone between two aesthetic styles. The octagonal staircase tower, built outside the building and grafted onto the rear of the dwelling, is the unmistakable sign of a link with the manor houses of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, where the tower was both a symbol of prestige and a technical solution for distributing the floors. However, on the garden façade, the volumes are calmer, the composition is more central and the chimneys are symmetrically arranged: we can already sense the rigour that would characterise the canonical malouinières of the following century. The interior holds a rare surprise: the seventeenth-century panelling and partitions have survived the centuries without being dismantled or over-painted. This wood panelling, which carves out and dresses the domestic spaces, restores an authentic atmosphere of almost unsettling density. To stand in these rooms is to get a close-up view of the daily life of a well-to-do family from Saint-Servan at a time when Duguay-Trouin had not yet been born and Saint-Malo was quietly building its maritime fortune. The exterior contributes to the emotion of the place. The residence is in keeping with the peri-urban logic typical of the Malouinières: set back from the ramparts, facing a garden, it signals the desire of its patrons to escape from the dense city to enjoy a breathing space and a place of representation. Now listed as a Historic Monument since 2000, La Verderie retains a secluded, serene quality that attentive visitors will appreciate far from the hustle and bustle of the ramparts and beaches.
Architecture
The malouinière de la Verderie adopts an L-shaped layout, typical of 15th and 16th century Breton manor houses, which its patron took up again in 1637, adding the first classical inflections. The most spectacular feature is undoubtedly the octagonal stair tower, set outside the building at the rear of the dwelling: this polygonal projection, inherited from the late Gothic and Breton Renaissance vocabulary, contrasts with the restraint of the main facade on the garden side, which instead reveals a carefully symmetrical composition, with shouldered chimneys arranged on either side of the central axis. It is precisely this duality - medievalism on the back, proto-classicism on the façade - that makes La Verderie an architectural document of the first order. The materials used are those of the Saint-Malo building tradition: local granite, which is omnipresent in the region, dominates all the elevations, giving the residence the grey hue and mineral robustness characteristic of the Saint-Malo region. The steeply pitched roofs, covered in Breton slate, are in keeping with regional practices, while at the same time heralding the mansard or gambrel roofs that later Malouinières would adopt with greater ostentation. Inside, the preservation of the 17th-century panelling and partitions is the house's greatest heritage asset. This wood panelling, which structures and decorates the living spaces, bears witness to the high quality of local craftsmanship and offers a direct insight into the way in which a bourgeois interior in Saint Malo was organised and decorated in the time of Louis XIII. Their remarkable state of preservation makes them virtually unique in the region.
Related Figures
Commanditaires anonymes de 1637 (probablement marchands ou officiers de justice de Saint-Servan)Artisans et maîtres maçons malouins du premier XVIIe sièclePropriétaires successifs qui ont préservé les lambris originels sans les dénaturerInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier d'inscription en 2000
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Malouinière de la Verderie, à Saint-Servan located?
Malouinière de la Verderie, à Saint-Servan is located in Saint-Malo, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Malouinière de la Verderie, à Saint-Servan built?
Malouinière de la Verderie, à Saint-Servan dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Malouinière de la Verderie, à Saint-Servan open to visitors?
Malouinière de la Verderie, à Saint-Servan is currently closed to visitors.
