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Origin and history

The hotel Goüin is a 15th century mansion located in the Old Towers, one of the few preserved testimonies of Renaissance architecture of the city. Originally built for Jean Gaudin, a merchant enriched by the Court installed in Tours and treasurer of Anjou, it was redesigned at the beginning of the 16th century by his son Victor Gaudin, then by his brother Nicolas, mayor of Tours and silversmith of Queen Anne of Brittany. The facade, modified between flamboyant Gothic and Italian Renaissance, even precedes that of the castle of Azay-le-Rideau, marking a major stylistic transition in Touraine.

Passed into the hands of merchant families such as the Gardette (XVI century) and the Compain, the hotel was acquired in 1738 by Henri-François Goüin, founder of the Bank Goüin, who installed his residence and offices there. The Goüin family, of Breton origin, undertook major transformations: enlargement of the south courtyard, construction of a portal in the 18th century, and destruction of the south gallery in the 19th century. The hotel, partially destroyed by the bombings of 1940, was rebuilt in the 1950s under the direction of Bernard Vitry, with the financing of the Goüin.

Ranked a historic monument since 1941, the hotel houses Gallo-Roman remains in its basements and a 12th century long house discovered during recent excavations. Bequeathed to the Société archéologique de Touraine (SAT) in 1925, it became a departmental museum in 1977 after its symbolic assignment to the Conseil général d'Indre-et-Loire. Collections, including archaeological and artistic elements, are kept in storage. The hotel also hosted temporary exhibitions, such as the one dedicated to the naive painter André Bauchant in 2017.

The architecture of the Hotel Goüin is distinguished by its Renaissance façade with three front bodies, its loggia and terraces, as well as by a monumental fireplace from the former Sanglier Hotel, known as "House of Agnes Sorel". The successive restorations (1840, 1900, 1950s and 2010) have altered some original aspects, but have preserved this emblematic heritage of the Old Towers, linked to the economic and political history of the region for five centuries.

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