Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The hotel at 5 Rue de l'Arbalète in Tours dates from the late 15th or early 16th century, a period of transition between the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It originally belonged to the fief of the treasurer of Saint-Martin, a character linked to the city's influential abbey. The building consists of a main house body flanked by two wings in return of square, with a courtyard closed to the east by a wall pierced by a cochère door redone in the seventeenth century. The facades of the north and west wings were rebuilt in the 19th century, while the interior preserves medieval elements such as a vaulted room on cross-wall with prismatic mouldings, adorned with grotesque caps.

The stairway tower is home to contemporary carpentry of construction, and 17th-century panelling is evidence of later interior changes. The hotel was partially classified as a Historic Monument in 1948, protecting its western and southern facades, the stair tower, vaulted rooms, and the cochère door. These protections highlight its architectural interest, combining late Gothic heritage and adaptations of classical and modern eras.

The location of the hotel, in the historic centre of Tours, reflects its anchoring in an area marked by ecclesiastical and bourgeois influence. The fief of the treasurer of Saint-Martin, to which he was attached, illustrates the links between religious power and urban heritage during the Renaissance. Subsequent transformations (17th and 19th centuries) reveal a continuous occupation and an adaptation to the tastes and needs of successive periods, typical of private hotels in urban areas.

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