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Origin and history

Armand House, located in Place Notre-Dame in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, is an emblematic monument of civil architecture from the first quarter of the 16th century. Its homogenous facade, spread over four levels, has striking stylistic features: two cross-sections on the first floor, formerly framed by sculpted larmies that are now missing, and attic windows with wooden frames. The house is part of the orthogonal plan of the bastide founded in 1256 by Alphonse de Poitiers, where the perpendicular streets delineated rectangular plots around a central square reserved for the market and the church.

Villefranche-de-Rouergue, created as a bastide in 1256, became a prosperous economic centre, sheltering wealthy merchants and institutions such as the senecha floor of the Rouergue, authorized to strike royal currency as early as 1463. A fire in 1497 ravaged Notre Dame Square, explaining the absence of buildings prior to the 16th century. The house Armand, rebuilt on the original medieval plane, illustrates this urban renaissance: its two-spaned facade, based on arches full of hangers, with windows of the first floor with intact mouldings, date from the hinge of the 15th and 16th centuries. Subsequent modifications, such as the second floor windows that were remodeled in the 18th or 19th centuries, are evidence of residential adaptations.

Partially classified since 1932 (façade) and then 1996 (covered gallery, roof), the Armand house embodies the architectural evolution of the bastide, where the arcades gradually developed according to commercial needs. His masonry, backed by a corner chain of the neighbouring house (at 35 parcelle), confirms his post-priority in relation to the latter. The decorative details, such as the cross rods at the corners of the windows, highlight the influence of late Gothic and early Renaissance styles, characteristic of post-fire reconstructions in this dynamic commercial city.

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