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Origin and history

The former hotel Thomas-de-la-Valette is a private hotel located in Carpentras, in the department of Vaucluse, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d的Azur region. Built in the 2nd half of the 18th century, it illustrates the elegant civil architecture of this period, with a spatial organization typical of aristocratic mansions: a square inner courtyard surrounded by four wings, a four-fold suspended staircase, and facades of cut stone decorated with pilasters and carved frontons. Its monumental entrance, marked by an arch in the handle-of-panier and a balcony in gold ironwork, bears witness to the fascist sought after by its owners.

The hotel owes its name to Count Thomas de la Valette, who acquired it around 1750 after its initial construction by the Count of Modena. The building was thoroughly redesigned to adopt a symmetrical U-shaped plan, characteristic of 18th century urban hotels, while incorporating older elements, such as painted decorations from the 3rd quarter of the 17th century in the appendices. The latter, located at the bottom of the courtyard, could come from a nearby hotel (such as the Hotel des Isnards) or from a adjoining plot, their connection to the whole remains uncertain. The building thus combines late baroque influences and a measured classicism, visible in the blind arcades of the ground floor or the watered fountain of the courtyard.

Ranked a historic monument since 12 October 1995, the hotel has undergone subsequent adjustments to adapt to local uses, such as the creation of a medical office on the ground floor or the division of floors into apartments. These changes, although pragmatic, did not alter the remarkable elements of the original architecture, such as the central staircase, the flat vaults of the service rooms, or the additional floor latrine-belvedere, whose evacuation system was discharged directly into the adjacent street. Today, the building embodies both the prestige of the Carpentrassian aristocracy and the successive adaptations of a living heritage.

The interior arrangement reveals a strict social organization: the reception rooms and noble salons were built around the stairwell, while the service spaces (kitchens, sheds) were relegated to the back or basement. The first floor, reserved for private apartments, was served by a later added corbelled gallery. The facades, treated with a regular order, contrast with the irregularity of the back yard, where remains traces of painted decorations and arched vaults, remains of an era prior to the reconstruction of the eighteenth century.

The hotel's history raises questions about its urban evolution. The adjoining buildings, independent of the main wings, could belong to an older ensemble, possibly linked to the Hotel des Isnards or a parcel adjacent to Rue du Vieil-Hôpital. Their integration into the Valette area seems accidental, as suggested by stylistic and chronological differences. Despite these uncertainties, the ensemble forms a coherent testimony of Carpentrassian urbanism, where medieval heritages and architectural ambitions of the Enlightenment are mixed.

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