Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The House of Armagnac is a private hotel located in the heart of Rodez, Place de l'Olmet, built on the site of the former castle of the Counts of Armagnac. Although named in reference to this castle, it was built by the Daulhon family, including Hugues Daulhon, a rich Russian merchant. The date of 1531, engraved on a sculpture, suggests a construction between 1525 and 1531, in a Renaissance style marked by italianizing influences.

The hotel was originally the property of the Daulhon, before going through an alliance with the Bandinel family in the 16th century, then being sold in 1623 to Raymond Durif, another merchant. Its complex plan is the result of the assembly of three medieval plots, with pan-wood facades covered with yellow limestone plates imitating a stone apparatus. Decorative elements, such as medallions and pilasters decorated with rinceaux, are inspired by the choir fence of Rodez Cathedral (1529-1531).

The interior distribution, organized around a courtyard with superimposed loggias and a staircase in vis with ivy vault decoration, reflects a dual residential and commercial function, typical of medieval urban dwellings. The arched porch, decorated with fantastic figures, served as access to shops, houses and cellars. Ranked a historic monument in 1862, the house was restored in 1857 by architect Loirette, who added to it some neo-Renaissance carpentry carved by François Mahoux.

Hugues II Daulhon, a bourgeois who had become lord, undertook this re-construction in the second quarter of the 16th century, however preserving the medieval distribution inherited from his father, Géraud Daulhon. The building, represented on a map of 1495 as the "house of Géraud Daulhou", was then home to shops on the ground floor and housing on the floors. Its early classification and its singular iconography (like the tympanum of the door of the house) make it a rare testimony of Russian civil architecture.

The house was partially classified in 1862 (store, tower and staircase), enjoying a heritage interest from the 19th century. Its exterior decoration, with its raised skylights and its facades in "architectural grids", contrasts with the missing interior arrangements, whose trace remains in the esteemed books of the 15th and 16th centuries. Today, it remains an emblematic example of the adaptation of Ruthenian trading elites to Renaissance cannons.

External links