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Origin and history

The Gaubert House, located in Portets, New Aquitaine, is an architectural testimony of the last quarter of the eighteenth century. It was initially a country house belonging to the Gaubert family, enriched by the maritime trade, including the transport of sugar. Around 1796, the merchant Gaubert, wishing to transform this house into a wine-growing operation, entrusted the work of enlargement to architect Gabriel Durand, a collaborator of Victor Louis. Durand preserved the original house, dating from the mid-18th century, while adding wine-growing outbuildings and a garden, structuring the whole around a closed courtyard.

The original project provided for a complete reconstruction of the noble house of Bourdillot, acquired by the Gauberts in 1763, but only two pavilions and partial improvements were made. The primitive house, devoid of storey, was preserved, flanked by two rectangular pavilions: one connected by a body of commons, the other (a chapel) by an archature. The estate, surrounded by a wall pierced by a portal, illustrates the alliance between aristocratic habitat and agricultural activity, characteristic of Bordeaux wine estates of the time.

The elements protected since 1987 include the facades and roofs of the house and pavilions, the interior decoration of the chapel, as well as the fence wall with its gate. Although landscape developments have disappeared, the ensemble retains a heritage value linked to its economic and architectural history. Gabriel Durand, a Bordeaux architect, applied a sober and functional style, reflecting the ambitions of a growing merchant bourgeoisie on the eve of the Revolution.

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