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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

This house, located 19 rue de Paris in Vitré, was built during the first half of the 16th century, as evidenced by its frames in basket coves, its mouldings of bays, and the frame with close farms with samples carved in the arches. Originally, it housed two fire-fired rooms per level, served by a circular staircase tower in half-outpost, still visible today. The presence of a pulley in the attic and of a masonized lucarn on the façade suggests a storage use for goods, probably related to the trade in hemp cloths.

The merchant mark engraved on the entrance gate, dated 1602, confirms that the house belongs to a canvas merchant. These brands served as a professional and social identifier in the region, where the hemp trade flourished. The attic, accessible from the outside via the pulley, indicates an architectural adaptation to the constraints of the trade: the screw staircases, too narrow, did not allow the easy transport of the fabric balls.

Several major transformations have marked its history. In the 19th century, the stone ground floor, visible on a painting by Eugène Isabey (circa 1804–86), was replaced by an applied front, first for a mercery (Mercerie Lafages in 1850), then for a butchery (Boucherie Bigot). In the 20th century, interior redevelopments removed the chimney from the ground floor and covered the ceilings on the first floor, while existing chimneys, such as the one in grey marble, probably date from the late 19th or early 20th century.

Classified as a Historic Monument in 1966 for its street façade and roof, this house illustrates the evolution of urban uses in Vitré, from commercial housing to various commercial activities. Its architecture blends schist bellows, apparent wood panels, and d'entence, typical of the Breton Renaissance buildings, while bearing the traces of adaptations related to the modernization of streets in the 19th century.

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