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Origin and history

The Hotel de Camus is a mansion built in 1782 in Besançon, Doubs department, by architect Claude-Joseph-Alexandre Bertrand. Commanded by Beatrix-Antoine-Ignace de Camus, then president of Besançon's parliament, he partially replaced a former hotel (the hotel of Etrabonne) and entered the historical area of La Boucle. The initial project, considered too ambitious, was revised to lead to a five-span building on the street, complemented by a terraced garden planted with linden trees, which is now extinct.

The façade, made of cut stone, features bosses on the ground floor and classic elements like a balustrade. Inside, the honorary masonry staircase, adorned with a wrought iron ramp and a painted ceiling depicting Justice (work by Claude-Louis Chazerand), leads to remarkable rooms: the antichamber, the white room, the living room and the red room, whose decorations are protected. The vaulted basement and kitchen, covered with arched vaults, testify to a functional and aesthetic design.

The hotel changed its vocation in 1862 when it was acquired by the Sisters of Charity. In the 20th century, major changes took place: in 1961, the terrace wall and the garden were replaced by an asphalted courtyard. Since 1986, several elements (facade, roof, staircase and rooms on the first floor) have been included in historical monuments, thus preserving this testimony of bisontine aristocratic architecture of the end of the Old Regime.

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