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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The hotel of Fenasse, or Romanesque House, is an emblematic building of the second half of the 12th century located in Albi, at the corner of Rue des Foissants and Rue Saint-Étienne. Built in limestone and brick, it is distinguished by its facades combining Romanesque arches and Gothic elements, as a 15th century hexagonal turret. Its materials – sandstone for columns and capitals, stone for imposts – reveal successive changes, especially in the 15th century with the addition of the brick staircase tower.

The house was originally owned by the family Fenasse, rich Albige merchants, until their condemnation for catharism in the 14th century. Confiscated, it in turn became the residence of a bishop (Béraud de Fargues), a vicomtal residence, then that of a senechal of Toulouse, before being acquired in 1791 by the merchant Étienne Lacombe. Its facades, marked by carved Romanesque bays (slimming heads, rinceaux) and wooden panels, testify to its mixed use: commercial ground floor and floors reserved for the house.

Ranked a Historic Monument in 1971 for its facades and roofs, the house illustrates medieval civil architecture in Albige. His vestiges – the doors in the middle of the wall, adorned capitals, Gothic turret – and his history linked to local elites (traders, clergy, nobility) make him a key witness to the urban evolution of Albi. The archives mention a cellar, three floors, and facilities such as a well or stable, reflecting its status as an urban palace.

Its carved decoration, close to the churches of Saint-Salvi or Saint-Michel de Lescure (middle XII), suggests a high dating. The main gate on Rue Saint-Étienne had an adorned two-roll bow, while the secondary façade (rue des Foissants) served as secondary access to an inner courtyard. The reshuffles of the 15th century, like the crosses and the tower, met defensive and residential needs, marking the transition between Romanesque and Gothic.

Today, the ground floor houses shops, while the floors keep traces of medieval homes. Its inscription in the Inventory of Historical Monuments raises its heritage importance, linked to the economic and religious history of Albi, between catharism, episcopal power and flourishing trade in the 12th–15th centuries.

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