Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The hotel of Caulet, built in the early seventeenth century in Toulouse, is a U-shaped building organized between courtyard and garden. Its two screw-angle towers, covered with slate roofs, dominate a three-storey brick house body, enhanced with stone for frames and ornaments. Originally, the property belonged to Jean Étienne de Durand, first president of the Toulouse parliament, murdered in 1589. His heirs sold the estate in 1600 to Jean Georges de Caulet, treasurer general of France, who undertook to complete the construction between 1601 and 1603.

The realization mobilized several artisans under contract: the carpenters Antoine Planiol and Guillaume Menville for the frame (1601), the masons Jean Fenié and Gabriel Pons for the west pavilion (1602), or the brothers Noble, plumbers, for the cover in slate. The Campmartin stone tailor and the Fenié mason completed the decorative elements and the tower of the corner in 1603. In the 18th century, the Reséguier family modernized the facade, removing sills and ties in favor of segmentar arches, and modified the portal.

In the 19th century, the hotel became a report building. In 1960, its back façade was destroyed to give way to the department store Les Nouvelles Galeries, designed by architects René Mialhe and André Dubard de Gaillarbois. Only the façade on street, part of the roof and central staircase were preserved and classified as Historic Monuments in 1961. The shop, inaugurated in 1962, incorporated a concrete and travertine stone structure, contrasting with historical architecture. The paintings on the ceiling, once remarkable, have now almost completely disappeared.

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