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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former Grasset hotel, located in Pézenas in the Hérault, is an iconic building of the late 16th century. Its architecture is distinguished by a vaulted corridor leading to a courtyard with a monumental staircase with parallel flights, carried by crawling arches or in the middle of the hangar. The steps of the upper floors are extended by side galleries connecting the stairway to the body of houses on the street of the Fair. Architectural details, such as simplified capital pillars and square balusters, evoke a possible influence of Matthew Siau, a renowned mason of Pézenas in the 17th century.

The present building was erected around the middle of the seventeenth century on the site of a house originally owned by Pierre de Montagut, then transmitted in 1620 to Robert de Monde, master of the Duke of Ventadour, and his wife Etiennette de Montagut. Although often associated with the Grasset family, which occupied the area at the beginning of the 19th century, it is to the latter that one owes the major modifications to the facade, including the addition of a large cast iron balcony. Later, from 1902 to 1914, the hotel will host the sessions of the Literary Circle of Pézenas.

The protection of the monument relates specifically to the stairwell, the staircase itself and the vestibule, classified by order of 5 May 1944. These elements, dated from the late sixteenth century, bear witness to the architectural richness of the late Renaissance in the region. The historic address, 20 Cours Jean-Jaurès (formerly known as Molière), places the building in the heart of Pézenas, a city marked by its heritage and literary history.

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