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Origin and history

The Hotel Terrier de Santans is a mansion built in the 3rd quarter of the 18th century in Besançon, in the Doubs department. Sponsored by François-Félix-Bernard Terrier de Santans, President of the Besançon Parliament, it was built between 1770 and 1772 by the architect Claude-Joseph-Alexandre Bertrand, with the support of the entrepreneur Nicolas Strabat and the advice of Jean-François Chalgrin, a Parisian architect living in Besançon. The hotel replaces two pre-existing buildings: the former Hotel Espiard, property of Terrier de Santans, and an adjacent house purchased in 1769 from the Monin de Follenay family. Its grid plan includes a central courtyard, commons, and a pleasant garden at the back, now gone.

The hotel's architecture is distinguished by a 28-metre facade decorated with a triangular pediment, ionic pilasters, and a wrought iron balcony. The right wing houses a stone staircase with a iron railing, while the left wing includes a coachway leading to the commons. The interiors retain studded decorations, panelling, and original chimneys, especially in the first floor lounges. In the 20th century, the street building was occupied by a bank (from the 1900s), and the main body became in 1954 a private primary school, the school of Petit Saint Joseph. During the Second World War, the garden factory and the lions of the parron were transferred to the castle of Cléron by the family owner.

Ranked a historic monument in 2010, the hotel includes in its protection the land base, the houses, the communes, and the bank building. Its history reflects the urban and social transformations of Besançon, moving from an aristocratic residence to educational and commercial uses. The vaulted cellars, the check-pass, and the remains of the interior decorations testify to its initial prestige. Today, there remains a major example of 18th-century civil architecture in Franche-Comté, marked by the influence of Parisian models and the adaptation to local needs.

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