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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former Hotel de Mornay, located in Mantes-la-Jolie, is a remarkable building by its atypical U-plan, with a garden extending the courtyard rather than located at the back, as the classical tradition wanted. Built between the 15th and 18th centuries, it occupies an entire island between Baudin streets (old rue aux Pois) and the Arigots. Its facade on Baudin Street, more worked, contrasts with that of Rue des Arigots, today without its original coating. The interior reveals a strict symmetry: two lateral wings frame a raised central body, equipped with a pediment and a top floor. The vestibule leads to an honour staircase and reception rooms, whose inventory of 1748 attests to the residential and representative use.

The hotel, restored in 1710, would have housed the bailliage of Mantes and Meulan before becoming the property of the Bouret de Beuron family. In 1748 Guillaume Bouret, seigneur of Beuron, lived there with his family, sharing space with his son, Charles-Antoine-Placide, lieutenant general of the bailliage. The monument then passed to the Mornays by inheritance in 1779, hence its present name. In 1819 it was sold to the Benedictines of Bray, who set up a boarding school for young girls. Expansions took place between 1840 and 1842, using ancient materials, before the nuns left the site in 1871.

From 1888 to the end of the 20th century, the hotel houses the Saint-Louis parish school, run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Sold in 1999 by the bishopric, it is now transformed into private apartments. Its architecture, marked by quality carved elements (IM78002675) and remarkable ironwork (IM78002676), bears witness to its past prestige. The visit of Louis XIV and Anne of Austria in 1646, although unconfirmed for this place, illustrates the historical importance of the rue aux Pois, a former appellation of Baudin Street.

Ranked a Historical Monument in 1948, the former hotel retains traces of its multiple lives: aristocratic residence, judicial seat, convent, and then school. Its evolution reflects the social and religious upheavals of Mantes-la-Jolie, from the Enlightenment to the secularization of teaching. The disappearance of the chapel and the buildings annexed to the 19th century recalls the successive adaptations of the site, now reduced to its historical core.

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