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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The mansion located at 27 rue du Swan in Tours, in the Old Towers district, is a composite building whose oldest parts date back to the late 15th century. The main house body, marked by a pentagonal tower typical of late Gothic, was enlarged in the 16th century by a south wing of Renaissance style, characterized by pilasters, an adorned frieze and geometric slate decorations. A third wing, to the north, was added in the 18th century, when parts of the building were remodeled, as evidenced by the balcony grilles.

The hotel has a turbulent history: rented in 1622 by the Ursulines waiting for their convent, it was acquired in 1766 by the Archbishop of Tours, Bishop Rosset de Fleury, who donated it to his intendant, Silvain Pradeau. Between 1774 and 1781, the site houses the small seminary of Tours. Its arched gate, decorated with vegetal motifs and a human head, gives access to an initially open courtyard, connected to the street by a covered passage. The facade of the south wing, sometimes called the François I wing, has an architectural feature: its side bays have oblique lintels, converging towards the central bay.

Ranked historic monument in 1926 for its house body and Renaissance wing, the hotel retains traces of its successive uses, such as the inscription "dorm" engraved on a lintel, vestige of its seminal past. Its location, in a former marshy area near the medieval walls of Tours, reflects the gradual urbanization of the city between the Middle Ages and the modern era. The decorations of the mure gallery, including cartridges and cariatids, illustrate the influence of the aesthetic cannons of the French Renaissance in the civil architecture of Tourangelle.

Historical sources point to his connection with the hotel de la Bourdaisière, of which he would have been an addiction. The successive transformations — addition of wings, walling of the gallery, interior modifications — reveal a constant adaptation to the needs of its occupants, from nuns to seminarians. Today, the building remains a remarkable testimony of the superimposition of urban styles and functions in Tours, between medieval heritage and renaissant innovations.

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