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Origin and history

The house at 9 Grande Rue in Laval is a remarkable example of medieval civil architecture, built between 1459 and 1461 according to a dendrochronological study. It is distinguished by its gable-on-street wall, its two corbellations (including that on the second floor rests on expanded poles and ground spacers), and its wooden strip called "grid". The structure combines vertical poles, Saint-André crosses, postlets and oblique pieces called guettes to reinforce the first and second floors. The framework, with an overflowing farm, and the side façade have two levels of exterior galleries, characteristic of the urban houses of that time.

The Grande Rue, where this house is located, is the oldest axis of Laval, inherited from a Roman road between Le Mans and Corseul. Although the city was founded in the 11th century, today's visible buildings date mostly from the 15th and 16th centuries, the city having been destroyed during the Hundred Years War (14th century). The street was once closed by the Pont de Mayenne gate, integrated with the ramparts built at the same time. These walls were largely dismantled between the 18th and 19th centuries. The house of 9 Grande Rue, with its wooden facade, was inscribed in the Historical Monuments by order of 18 October 1933.

A tragic event marked the history of this street: in 1403, Guy de Laval, the only son of Guy XII of Laval, died there after a fall in a well without margin while playing palm. This accident led to the extinction of the Maison de Laval-Montmorency. The street, paved in 1784, thus preserves traces of both its Roman, medieval and modern past, incarnated by houses such as number 9, witness to the architectural and urban evolution of Laval.

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