Habitation l'Hermitage

Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Habitation l'Ermitage is a former colonial plantation founded before 1664 in Trois-Rivières, on the island of Basse-Terre in Guadeloupe. Initially a food farm on the slopes of the Montagne Saint-Charles, it became a café in the 18th century. In 1768, the estate was sold by Marie-Anne de Bragelogne to Jean-Jacques Carra de La Villarde, who gave it its current name. His nephew, Guillaume Hercule Duquéruy, inherited but, royalist, had to go into exile in 1812, selling the dwelling to Pierre Texier de Lavalade.

Between 1815 and 1848, the Texier family transformed the farm into a sugar factory and built in 1830 the main house, a rectangular Creole house with gallery, as well as outbuildings (kitchens, stables) on a natural terrace. The domain is fed by the Martha source, channeled to an octagonal covered basin. After the abolition of slavery, the house became a café before diversifying into bananas and livestock in the 19th century.

In 1896, Jean Baptiste Numa Collin de la Roncière acquired the estate and passed it on to his daughter Laurence, wife of Leopoldo Petrelluzzi, a captain in the Italian long course. The latter develops exports of local produce (coffee, sugar, rum) to Europe via its company in Pointe-à-Pitre. Under the Petrelluzzi, the dwelling modernises its cultures and sees the addition of a statue of Christ as a Redeemer in the park (1955–1960). The estate is now owned by the family.

The master's house and hydraulic network were listed in the Historic Monuments in 2004, then classified in 2006. Remnants include the main house, wood outbuildings, stable manure park, gardens lined with royal palm trees, and spring-fed pond. The traditional spatial organization, with its terrace and aisles, bears witness to the colonial agricultural architecture of the French Antilles.

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