Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel de Loubatières, built in the 2nd half of the 17th century in Pézenas, is distinguished by its settlement outside the medieval enclosure, a rarity for the period. The contract of 1664, signed between Jean de Morcairol, Sieur de Loubatières, and master mason Mathieu Siau, specifies the building of the house on two acquired houses. The facade, remodeled in the 19th century, preserves a square door framed by boutique arches, while grimaçant mask consoles (the baroque "aricular" style) adorn the entrance. The hotel organizes its spaces around a central square courtyard, accessible by a pebbly paved driveway, and a four-core staircase distributing four levels.

The construction, unfinished at the end of the seventeenth century, remains partial at the beginning of the eighteenth century under successive owners: Gabriel de Morcairol, then François de Chamberlain (receiver of sizes) and Antoine Darles de Chamberlain (advisor of the king). In 1769, the hotel was seized by the Cour des Aides after ill-treatment by Guillaume Darles de Chamberlain, a military engineer. He then changed hands on several occasions: Louis-Antoine d-Alichoux de Sénégra (1774), Antoine de Dupin (1775, former lieutenant-colonel), and then the merchant Jacques-François Reboul (1777). In the 19th century, it integrates the heritage of the families of Epine and Fabre de Latude by alliance.

Architecturally, the hotel combines a main house body parallel to the street and a back building opening onto a garden, connected by a caladized corridor. The arches full hang and crawling, supported by square pillars, emphasize the Baroque influence. A unique hotel perfectly dated to Pézenas thanks to the contract of 1664, it also illustrates the urban extension beyond the ramparts under the Old Regime. Its monumental staircase, flying straight around a central vacuum, makes it a remarkable example of the Languedoc aristocratic habitat.

Ranked a Historic Monument in 1992, the Hotel de Loubatières (or Latude) bears witness to the social and architectural changes of Pézenas, a prosperous city thanks to commerce and the royal administration. Its history reflects the marital and financial strategies of the local elites, between nobility of robe, military and merchant bourgeoisie.

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