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Origin and history

Grivel House, located in Brive-la-Gaillarde in the Sisters' district, is an old small mansion built between 1590 and 1600. Its Renaissance architecture is distinguished by a Louis XII-style corner turret, a nailed wooden door with a screw staircase, and a skylight surmounted by a half-moon pediment. The materials used, local sandstone and Grammont sandstone, as well as the decorations comparable to those of the hotel of Verninac (dated 1592), suggest this dating. The house could have belonged to a convent in Clarisses, explaining the name of the neighborhood.

In the 18th century, the house belonged to the Grivel family, giving it its present name. In the 19th century, projects to align the facades partially altered its structure: the façade on Rue de la Jaubertie was rebuilt between 1821 and 1868, the turret was abrased, and its conical roof was redesigned. Despite these transformations, some Renaissance elements remain, such as the skylight and the windows of the turret. The front door seems to have been raised.

Ranked a Historic Monument in 1958, Grivel houses protected facades and roofs, including those of the corner turret. Its present state reflects both its Renaissance heritage and subsequent adaptations, especially in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The frames of the bays, mostly redone, contrast with the original parts such as the skylight and the elements of the turret, witness to its prestigious past.

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