Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The building, located in Nancy, is an old canon house built from 1607 as part of a subdivision for members of the primatia chapter of Lorraine. Commanded by Nicolas Viardin, the first ecolâtre named in 1605, it was erected by the masons Jean Braconnier, Nicolas and Lambert Charles, as well as the carpenter Didier Barbonnois, under contracts signed in May and July 1607. The plot, at the corner of Mably streets, the Manège and the Primatiale (opened in 1742), is divided into a garden in the east and two bodies of L-shaped buildings around a courtyard, later completed by wings along the Rue de la Primatiale.

The house, originally intended for the school, then passes to the great singers by exchange with another property rue des Chanoines. In the 18th century, the portal on Mably Street was rebuilt and decorated with the weapons of its owner (burnt at the Revolution), while repairs were attributed to François-Paul de Vintimille-Lascaris, a great singer from 1772 to 1789. At the Revolution, the last occupant, François-Pascal-Marc Anthoine, was sentenced to deportation, and the property was sold as a national in 1794 to Sébastien and Sigisbert Mandel.

In the 19th century, the building became a boarding school for girls, then the Boyer institution in the early 20th century. Major changes took place in 1830 (building a wing in return) and in 1882 (realignment of the Rue de la Primatiale, widening the buildings). In 1962, a new wing was added for a regional school project, while interiors were completely remodelled. Today, the site houses administrative services of the rectorate. The two doors (Mably Street and Manège Street), classified in 1944, bear witness to its architectural heritage.

Protected elements include broken, armorial and vegetal garlands, as well as traces of stone crosses on the garden side façade. The revolutionary sales report (1794) describes an interior organization in two superimposed apartments, with living room, bedroom, cabinet and adjoining rooms (like a library on the first floor), while the outbuildings housed kitchen and stables. The successive transformations erased part of this original provision.

External links