Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The house of the Tourgarnier, located in Angoulême in Charente, finds its origins in a 13th century square tower whose remains are integrated into the current construction. Its strategic location, at the exit of the city on the old road to Périgueux, made it a notable crossing point. Although its first owners remain unknown, the site was profoundly transformed in the 16th century by the La Place family, local lords and influential Protestant figures.

In the 16th century, the house was rebuilt by Hélie de La Place, Protestant mayor of Angoulême and close to Calvin, who ascribed to it the family coat of arms still visible today, although mutilated during the Revolution. In 1565, the monument welcomed Catherine de Medici and her son Charles IX for five days, then on tour to calm the religious tensions in Angoumois. This royal stay underlines the political importance of the house, linked to the family of La Place, mayors of Angoulême over several generations.

Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the house underwent architectural changes, such as the addition of a pentagonal pavilion housing the staircase and the modification of the entrance gate, topped by a decorative crenelage with faceted balls. Passed into the hands of bourgeois families (Ogerdias, Ducluzeau), in the 19th century it became an industrial property, integrated into an active stationery until the 1970s. Ranked a historic monument in 1925 and 1949 for its gate and creneled wall, it is now a private residence, partially converted into a guest house.

The architecture of the house combines medieval elements (the 13th century tower) and Renaissance, with a south facade decorated with a pentagonal forebody and a courtyard preceded by a fanciful creneled wall. Note that a remarkable linden, now extinct, trumped in the courtyard near a source transformed into a basin. The interiors, renovated in the 21st century, preserve traces of its prestigious past, such as paving the large hall on the ground floor.

The house illustrates the changes from an aristocratic building to an industrial site, before returning to a residential vocation. Its history reflects the religious upheavals (Wars of Religion), political (Royal Visit) and economic (Industrial Revolution) that marked Anguumois from the 16th to the 20th century.

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