Origin and history
The Than hotel, built in the first quarter of the 16th century in Caen, is an emblematic example of Renaissance architecture in Normandy. Probably completed around 1527 for Thomas Morel, seigneur of Secqueville-en-Bessin and Thaon, he distinguished himself by his lucarnes with Italian influence, although less pronounced than at the hotel d'Escoville or Mondrainville, built later. This monument illustrates the transition between Gothic and Renaissance, with Italian decorative elements grafted on a French medieval structure. A local anecdote evokes a female statue at the north corner, in a posture deemed "irrespective", often interpreted as a rivalry between architects, although this legend is contradicted by the dates of construction.
In the 19th century, the hotel was occupied by Abel Vautier, who made it an eclectic private museum, filled with art objects, antiques (strusks, Egyptians), scientific collections (ornithology, malacology) and precious objects (porcelains, weapons, currencies). Open to the public, this cabinet of curiosities was dispersed after his death in 1863, generating the emotion of contemporaries such as Célestin Hipbeau, who deplored the loss of this heritage. The hotel then moved to the Colas family (industrialbourgeoisie), before being transformed in 1911 into a restaurant by M. and Mme Chandivert, then into an Art Deco complex (brasserie and cinema Majestic) in the 1930s, today destroyed.
The Second World War marked a tragic turning point: the hotel was burned during the Battle of Caen (1944), leaving only burnt walls. The skylights on the garden are destroyed by the British military genius. The restoration, carried out from 1949 by Charles Dorian, combines Caen stone (for walls) and hard stone (for high parts), slightly altering the original appearance. The works, slowed down by limited credits, spread over decades: the boulevard grid was laid in 1965, and the 18th century porch was restored in 1967. After sheltering a restaurant, a store and then the urban transport services (1978-1998), the hotel became a recruitment centre of the gendarmerie, before a renovation in 2017 to accommodate apartments and a luxury business, as part of the requalification of the city centre.
The hotel's architecture, organised around a courtyard accessible from Saint John Street, retains only one of the four original buildings, parallel to this street. The skylights, inspired by Italian art, and the back turret (decreed from a post-war floor) bear witness to its past prestige. The post-war restoration, however, has changed its structure: the walls, once carrying, are now supported by a reinforced concrete skeleton, typical of Reconstruction. Among the particularities, five of the back facade windows, partially masked by the 1930s brewery, were only partially restored in stone (two stone, three wooden and slate), reflecting the compromises of the era.
Ranked a historic monument in 1930 (façades, roofs and backyard), after a first inscription in 1927, the Than Hotel embodies both the splendor of the Caennais Renaissance and the challenges of post-conflict heritage preservation. Its history reflects urban changes, from the 19th-century bourgeois salons to the destruction of 1944 and contemporary adaptations. Today, there remains a symbol of the resilience of Norman heritage, between memory and modernity.
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