Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The house Lagrasse, located in Monestiés in the Tarn, is a historical monument built in the 16th century. It bears witness to the civil architecture of this period, marked by defensive elements like an angle turret based on a circular corbellation. This turret, pierced by oval mouths on two floors, reflects the security concerns of the time, while the seigneury of Monestiés had been dependent on the archbishops of Albi since 1282.

The facade on street has a characteristic projecting structure, with a second floor in corbellation on the first, itself overlooking the ground floor. These advances are based on wooden beams reinforced by stone crows, illustrating medieval construction techniques. The ground floor houses a shop whose entrance, in the middle of the hanger, is framed with pilasters supporting an archetrave, while two large arched bays in basket handle complete the whole.

The facades and roofs, including the vants and bumpers of the entrance door, were inscribed in the Historical Monuments by order of 21 June 1971. This classification underscores the heritage value of the building, whose exact address is the 22 Lice de Candeze in Monestiés. The accuracy of its location is estimated as fair, with an Insee code (81170) linking the commune to the Tarn department, in the Occitan region.

The history of Monestiés is closely linked to that of its lords, the bishops and Archbishops of Albi, who marked the urban and architectural evolution of the locality. The preserved buildings, like the Lagrasse house, do not go back beyond the sixteenth century, a period of relative stability and economic development for the region, favoring the emergence of a merchant and artisanal bourgeoisie.

The house Lagrasse thus embodies the double face of the late medieval urban habitat: both bourgeois residence and commercial space, with a shop on the ground floor. Its architecture, combining defensive elements and civil ornaments, reflects the social and economic transitions from Occitanie to the Renaissance, between feudal heritage and the growth of commercial activities.

Finally, the protection of the monument in 1971 allowed us to preserve remarkable elements such as the firemouths of the turret or the arches in the basket handle of the shop. These architectural details offer a valuable testimony on the know-how of 16th century artisans and on the spatial organization of Occitan cities under the influence of ecclesiastical lords.

External links