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Origin and history

The Hotel d'Estaing, also known as the Chamarier House, is a building located at 37 rue Saint-Jean in the 5th arrondissement of Lyon. His name comes from the Latin term cameriarus, designating the intendant of finances of the bishop of the nearby cathedral. This role included managing the taxes collected at fairs from the 15th century, as well as guarding the keys of the canonial enclosure. The list of chamariers, covering the period from 1070 to 1779, is documented.

The current construction dates mainly from the 1st quarter of the 16th century, although remains of the 13th and 15th centuries remain. Originally, a first house was built in the 13th century against the wall of the cloister Saint John, built under the episcopate of Guichard de Pontigny (1165-1180). This building was rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries, then rebuilt in the 16th century by François d'Estaing, a chamarier from 1496. The Marquise de Sévigné stayed there in 1672 and 1673, invited by the chamarier Charles de Châteauneuf de Rochebonne, his daughter's brother-in-law.

In the 19th century, the house was transformed into housing and degraded with the Saint John district. In 1907, a legacy passed on to the city of Lyon, and it was listed as a historical monument in 1943. After decades of abandonment (1980-2015), it was restored in 2005 and rehabilitated in 2016 to accommodate nine housing units, a Fab Lab dedicated to heritage, and two shops. The city of Lyon remains the owner of the property, piercing an annual rent of 12 000 €.

The architecture of the Hotel d'Estaing is distinguished by its medieval staircase, its Renaissance workroom, an Italian loggia decorated with paintings, and a well attributed to Philibert Delorme. These elements make it a rare example of a Lyon Renaissance civil house, mixing medieval and Italian influences.

The rehabilitation project (2016) involves several actors, including real estate developers, the chief architect of the Historic Monuments Didier Repellin, and the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts. There are two public spaces: one dedicated to 3D modelling of Lyon monuments, the other presenting the historical evolution of the house via a model and an interactive tablet.

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