Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel de Laval de Lacresne, located in Riom in Puy-de-Dôme, is a remarkable specimen of civil architecture from the early seventeenth century. Its façade, structured on three floors, is distinguished by a careful treatment of the stones in bossage and an elegant sculptural decoration. The last level is rhythmized by skylights and a central window framed with ionic pilasters with composite capitals, while two statues of Hercules armed with clubs flank this opening, adding a mythological dimension to the whole.

The first and second floors feature windows decorated with the same ionic pilasters, creating vertical harmony. The interior courtyard, contemporary of the facade, reveals a door and a window with ornaments mixing the ionic and doric orders. These elements, combined with the stairway mentioned in the sources, illustrate the stylistic consistency of the building. The hotel was partially protected by an inscription under the Historic Monuments in 1925, specifically covering the facades on street and courtyard.

The building embodies the fascist of modern-day private hotels, where classical aesthetics serve the social affirmation of its sponsors. Riom, a major administrative and judicial city in Auvergne, concentrated a local elite anxious to mark its prestige with ambitious urban residences. The Hôtel de Laval de Lacresne is thus part of a context of regional cultural and political influence, reflecting the aspirations of a bourgeoisie or a rising nobility.

Available sources, including the Merimée and Monumentum base, highlight the heritage value of the building, while noting an approximate geographic location (level of accuracy estimated at 5/10). No information is provided on its current accessibility, its contemporary uses, or the precise identity of its first owners, limiting the knowledge of its social and functional history.

External links