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Origin and history

Hotel Davé is an emblematic civil building of the city of Nîmes, located at 15 boulevard Talabot and rue Fénelon. Built in the late 19th century, before 1892, on ancient agricultural lands, it embodies bourgeois architecture of this period. Its facades, adorned with an elevated perron and a peristyle with Louis XVI style columns, reflect the taste of the era for classicism.

The hotel was originally built for Arthur de Roussel, then given by Judge Davé, a magistrate at the court of first instance, at the Nîmes Academy. Its interior architecture is remarkable, with a monumental staircase decorated with stucco and pumpkin red paintings, as well as living rooms keeping marble fireplaces and stucco ceilings. The distribution of spaces, centered on an axis leading to the garden, shows a careful design.

Since 3 September 2010, the facades, roofs and stairwell of Hotel Davé have been protected as historical monuments. Today, the building houses the Bridge Club Nîmois, illustrating an adaptive reuse of heritage. Its semicircular pediment and symmetrical entrances, one of which overlooks the boulevard, make it a representative example of the Nîmes urban planning of the late 19th century.

The protected elements include interior decorations such as friezes, moulded box ceilings, and mosaics, although some modern partitions have altered the original circulation. The property, now managed by an association, nevertheless retains much of its historic character, thanks in particular to its original materials: stone on a street façade and coated on the garden.

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