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Origin and history

Hotel Séguier is an emblematic civil building of Nîmes, built in the second half of the eighteenth century. Located at 7 Rue Séguier, it embodies the Nîmese architecture of the period, with an oval vestibule inspired by the Episcopal Palace and a staircase cage slightly off to favor the axis towards the garden. This monument, classified in 2005, reflects the refinement of bourgeois homes in the region.

The house belonged to Jean-François Séguier (1703–84), scholar, botanist and epigraphist, who installed his library and collections (minerals, medals, natural specimens). Between 1771 and 1772 he built this hotel in the Carmes suburb, then populated by textile and silk craftsmen. In 1778 and 1780 he bequeathed his property to the Academy of Nîmes, before the building suffered the upheavals of the Revolution.

Under the Terror (1793), the hotel was confiscated and sold to an individual, Mr Pieyre, before being bought by the city to house the rectorate. In the 19th century, he changed hands several times: purchased by Dr.Puldoux in 1849, then by Mr.Cabane de Florian in 1879. The town hall of Nîmes became its owner in 1996. Despite its ranking in 2005, tensions persist in 2020 around its maintenance and occupation.

The architecture of the Hotel Séguier is distinguished by its iron staircase decorated with a "S" for Séguier, its oval vestibule and its large stairwell. These elements, typical of the eighteenth century, bear witness to the social status of its owner. Today, a communal property, the building remains a symbol of the Nîmes scientific and architectural heritage, although its future is sometimes debated.

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