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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hotel de Sagey d Its construction, after 1753 (absent from the city plan that year), is attested by a fireplace plate dated 1774 in the old kitchen. The building, commissioned by Claude Michel Judith de Sagey, an officer and local lord, and his wife Anne Catherine Marguerite Louise of Arros, from a noble lineage in Bearnaise, reflects the aristocratic status of its owners. The couple, married in 1755, raised six children there, including several clergymen or soldiers, marking the family anchor in the region.

The hotel, registered to the Historical Monuments since 1979, is distinguished by its architecture in three bodies of buildings connected by external staircases: a double-flyed stone and wrought iron staircase for the first two, and a covered passage for the third. The facades, with regular spans, have curved openings and decorative staples. The terraced garden, enclosed with dry stone walls, houses a well fed by a resurgence, vestige of the former wine-growing activities of the Sagey family, which owned 2.5 hectares of vines on the neighbouring hillsides. Interior preserves woodwork of Louis XV and Louis XVI styles.

The property changes hands several times after the Sagey family. In the 19th century, it was acquired by the Marlet family, including Adolphe François Marlet, a friend of Gustave Courbet and represented in L-Enterrement in Ornans. The realistic painter, originally from the city, immortalizes this local bourgeois milieu. The hotel then passed into the hands of notables (Cordier family, Gallois) before being restored from 1976 by Dr Jean-Marie Saguet, who installed a medical office there until 2011. The restoration works, carried out in stages, preserve historical elements such as local flat tiles or outdoor chimneys.

The building illustrates the social and architectural evolution of Ornans, from its role as an aristocratic residence to its transformation into a bourgeois good and then a protected heritage. Its exterior staircase, interior décor and terraced garden make it a remarkable example of the 18th century private hotel in Franche-Comté. The presence of viticultural vestiges (press stone) and a stable recall local economic activities, while the family coats (Sagey, Arros, Marlet) testify to the noble and bourgeois alliances that marked its history.

Ranked for its facades, roofs, staircases and some interior decorations, the Hotel de Sagey da Arros remains a symbol of Ornansian heritage, linked to figures such as Courbet or the noble families of franco-comtoises. Its registration as Historic Monuments in 1979 enshrines its heritage value, while successive restorations ensure its transmission to future generations.

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