Origin and history
The Margarance estate, located in Saint-Louis-de-Montferrand en Gironde, is a country house built in the 18th century, as evidenced by the engraved dates (1762) on some outbuildings. The main house, perpendicular to the Garonne, consists of a square floor and a high floor, extended by outbuildings including a cellar, housing and a well in a central courtyard. The architecture combines rubble, hollow tiles and decorative elements such as bosses, cords and oculus. Inside, three rooms per floor, decorated with panelling and fireplaces, are served by a stone staircase. A Moorish-style pavilion, adorned with colourful earthenware, and a pier bordered by an alley of plane trees complete the whole, reflecting the influence of Bordeaux traders, including the Gradis family, owner of the premises until recently.
The old plans, such as those of the Marais (circa 1760) and Belleyme (1762-1783), reveal an initial organization in three groups: the house and its dependencies close to the road, isolated buildings to the south, and two embankments along the Garonne. Although partially redesigned in the 19th and 20th centuries, these developments, including irrigation canals and gardens, illustrate the adaptation of the estate to local wine and river activities. The remains of a basin fed by an artesian well and the successive transformations (demolition of an 18th century building, construction of the Moorish pavilion in the 20th century) bear witness to its evolution, while preserving classical elements of the 18th century, such as the ironwork grille or pilasters facades.
The estate, classified Historic Monument in 1966 for its facades and roofs, embodies the architectural and agricultural heritage of the region. The materials (meltons, hollow tiles) and the water installations (channels, valves) underline its link with the Garonne and historical wine practices. The persistence of property within the Gradis family, Bordeaux traders, strengthens its anchor in the local economic history, between river trade and exploitation of surrounding lands.
The main house, dated from the middle of the eighteenth century, is distinguished by its preserved interior decoration (lambria, fireplaces) and its distribution in a line, typical of bourgeois houses of the period. The right stone staircase, with its turned wooden ramp, and the oculus illuminating the attic, reflect a concern for elegance and functionality. Outside, the facade on a garden, more worked than the one on street, highlights pilasters and ground windows, while the anterior facade simulates bays for an aesthetic effect. These architectural details, combined with the dependencies dated 1762, confirm a homogeneous construction during this period, despite subsequent changes.
The estate's dependencies, although partially destroyed or modified, reveal historical stratification. Some structures, such as the second building, incorporate 17th-century elements, heavily transformed at the end of the 19th century. The third set, including a long building of the 18th century now disappeared, illustrates the successive adaptations of the estate to agricultural and residential needs. The recent demolition of this building and the construction of the Moorish pavilion in the 20th century mark the latest evolutions of the site, while maintaining traces of original developments, such as the canals or alleyway of centenary abalone leading to the pier.
The estate's classification in 1966 protected its facades and roofs, highlighting its heritage value. The preserved elements, such as the ironwork grid, the flat pilaster pillars, or the tiles of the Moorish pavilion, offer an overview of the various stylistic influences, from Bordeaux classicism to the exoticism of the twentieth century. The whole, although marked by losses (dwelling of the garden, parts of the outbuildings), remains a rare testimony of the rural and bourgeois architecture of the region, linked to the history of merchant families like the Gradis, major players in the Bordeaux trade in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
