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Origin and history

The Peilhon de Faret hotel, located in Avignon in the Vaucluse, is a mansion built at the end of the seventeenth century. His story began in 1687 when Simon Peilhon, a taffetassier merchant (manufacturer of taffetas), acquired a house on Rue du Puits-de-la-Rappe, followed by two other adjoining houses. He entrusted the mason-maker Paul Rochas with the demolition and reconstruction of a single building between 1687 and 1688. Having bought Faret's land, Simon Peilhon then adopted the name of Peilhon de Faret, symbolizing his social ascent.

In 1711 his son Georges-Simon Peilhon, who became lord of Faret and secretary-counsellor of the king, undertook a partial reconstruction of the hotel. After leaving for Paris, where it is a collection of more than 80 paintings, the hotel remains in the family. In 1751 his grandson Pierre-Gabriel Peilhon, a general farmer, commissioned Joseph Vernet to order a Vue d'Avignon (1756-1757), showing family attachment to the city. The hotel was finally sold in 1794 (year II) by Simon-Narcisse Peilhon, then transformed into a commercial premises in 1838 by an iron merchant named Berton.

The hotel is distinguished by its remarkable architectural elements, including two interior atlantes inspired by those of Pierre Puget in Toulon. Partly classified as historical monuments, it preserves facades, roofs and an 18th century stucco ceiling. The interior cariatids, protected since 1932, illustrate the fascist of its former owners, merchants enriched in the textile trade and anoblised by royal charges.

The monument's protection extended in 1988 to facades, roofs and stucco-decorated ceilings, highlighting its heritage value. The historic address, between the rue de Rappe and the Place du Change, makes it a witness of the Avignon urbanism of the 17th and 18th centuries, marked by the influence of the merchant elites and the proximity of the popes' palace.

The sources also mention the presence of a View of Avignon painted by Joseph Vernet, now disappeared or dispersed, as well as the pictorial collection of Georges-Simon Peilhon, reflecting the artistic patronage of this family. The hotel thus embodies the link between commerce, nobility of dress and artistic heritage in Provence in the Enlightenment century.

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