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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Maison de l'Enseigne du Pélican is located at 48 rue Colbert, in the historic Old Towers district. This 15th-century building illustrates medieval civil architecture with its carved horn posts, some of which bear angelelots heads. The south facade and roofs were protected by an inscription to historic monuments in 1946, highlighting its heritage importance.

The structure consists of a ground floor and three floors, the last being fitted out in the attic. Restorations carried out around 1980 revealed a piece of wood with brick filling, initially masked by a coating or slates in the early twentieth century. The house body at the bottom of the plot, probably built at the end of the sixteenth century, and a link gallery added later (perhaps in the seventeenth century) complete the whole.

This monument reflects the architectural and urban evolutions of Tours, where half-timbered houses reflected both the social status of their owners and the construction techniques of the period. Its inscription in 1946 is part of a desire to preserve the medieval heritage of the city, then threatened by modern urban transformations.

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