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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The hotel of Grandval-Caligny, built in the early eighteenth century in Valognes, is attributed to Adrien Morel (1630-1694), squire and Sieur de Saint-Cyr, or his son Adrien Morel de Courcy (1670-1752), governor of the city. The latter, then his son-in-law Anthenor-Louis Hüe de Caligny, enlarged the hotel around 1750 by adding a side pavilion. The Hüe de Caligny family, linked to the local Freemasonry, resided there until the end of the 19th century, marking the history of the place with family dramas and notable alliances, such as the marriage of Rose Julie Hüe with Michel Bauquet de Grandval in 1808.

Between 1872 and 1887, the writer Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly occupied an apartment on the first floor, where he finished Les Diaboliques (1874) and received personalities such as the violinist Armand Royer or Father Lefoulon. His stay is marked by iconic objects, such as his faience stove or the "Buste-Jaune" placed on the monumental fireplace. The hotel, sold in 1877 to M. Le Maréchal (owner of the nearby Grand Hôtel du Louvre), was then divided into several buyers in the 20th century, including the Fauvel family for the main building.

Architecturally, the hotel illustrates the classic model of private hotels, with a pilaster house body, an honorary courtyard lined with a double balustrade terrace "à l ́italienne" (rare in France), and an interior stone staircase with a wrought iron ramp. These elements, as well as facades and roofs, have been protected since 1982 as historical monuments. The slope of the ground explains the asymmetry between the three levels on the courtyard side and the single floor on the garden side, reflecting the adaptation of the structure to its environment.

The hotel's posterity is also linked to its role in the worldly and intellectual life of Valognes. The women's masonic lodge, known as "adoption", meets under the aegis of Rose Chrétien d'Aubigny, wife of Anthenor Guillaume Hüe de Caligny. Two of their children died in Napoleonic wars, recalling the historical upheavals that were going through the family. Today, the name Grandval-Caligny perpetuates the memory of its former owners, while Barbey's presence makes it a major literary place in Normandy.

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