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Origin and history

The Hotel de la Bulette, also known as Hotel de la Bulle, is a Gothic building erected in the 14th century in the Old Town district of Metz, Place Sainte-Croix. It embodies the architectural development linked to the wealth of the Messina bourgeoisie, which makes the city a prosperous oligarchic republic between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. With nearly 30,000 inhabitants, Metz became Lorraine's largest urban concentration, taking its power from its lively fairs and currency, accepted throughout Europe. This private hotel, among others built in the late Middle Ages, bears witness to this opulence.

The original structure preserves Gothic elements such as littic windows, niches and scalds. In the Middle Ages, the building houses the administration of the Bulette, a tax charge levied on land deeds (transfers, commitments or enjoyments of property). It is then inhabited by notables like Lacour and Ledoyen, wine merchants storing their barrels in vaulted cellars. In the 16th century, it served briefly as a prison before being redesigned in the 17th century, with the addition of a baroque portal.

In the 20th century, the hotel was almost completely destroyed in 1935 when the St. Croix Hospital was built. Only the crown of niches, the side scalables, the upper row of windows and the 17th century gate (moved Rue des Recollets) remain. The vaulted cellars disappear permanently. The monumental gate (with its vantals) and the façade are however protected by inscriptions to historical monuments in 1931 and 1933, thus preserving a trace of this heritage.

The historical context reveals a dynamic medieval Metz, where the bourgeoisie, enriched by trade and fairs, invests in particular hotels symbols of power. La Bulette, a specific tax law, illustrates the complex administrative organization of the city, while the subsequent changes (17th and 20th centuries) reflect the successive adaptations of the building to changing needs, between private, public and hospital use.

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