Timeline

Origin and history

The house at 34 rue de la Rodade in Clermont-Ferrand is a civil building dating from the late 15th or early 16th century. It illustrates late medieval domestic architecture, with a typical organisation around an inner courtyard. Its main entrance gives access to a corridor leading to this courtyard, where a broken arched door, hidden in a recess, opens on a staircase with stone screws, characteristic element of bourgeois or noble houses of the time.

The north façade, at the back of the courtyard, has a large window with pillars and lintel decorated with prismatic mouldings, although its cross has disappeared. The upper corners of this window are embellished with carved curves, showing a rare decorative concern for a private home of this period. These architectural details suggest a desire to display a certain social status, without however reaching the fascist of later private hotels.

Classified as a Historic Monument by order of 24 April 1954, the house is protected for its front door and facades on an inner courtyard. This classification highlights its heritage interest, especially in its spiral staircase and decorative elements, representative of the transition between the flamboyant Gothic and the early Renaissance in Auvergne. No information is available on its historical occupants or its specific function beyond its residential use.

The location of the house, in the historic centre of Clermont-Ferrand, corresponds to an urbanized area from the Middle Ages, where the houses of local merchants, artisans and notables were concentrated. The Puy-de-Dôme, of which Clermont-Ferrand is the prefecture, was then a major commercial and religious crossroads in Auvergne, marked by the influence of fairs and episcopal power.

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