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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The house at 11 rue des Marchands in Nîmes is a historical monument whose façade, dating from the early 16th century, illustrates Renaissance civil architecture. It consists of a commercial ground floor, two floors pierced by windows with staggered axes, and half a storey under the roof. The windows on the first floor, although narrowed in the 19th century, retain their old interior frames and traces of mouldings attesting to the past presence of shingles. The openings on the second floor, smaller and with unequal widths, are surmounted by protruding mouldings resting on carved lamp-ends representing busts, heads and winged angels.

The property of the house was attested as early as 1609, but its constructive history dates back to the 15th and 16th centuries, as evidenced by the stylistic elements of its facade. The elevation, characteristic of the urban dwellings of the period, reflects a spatial organization combining commercial functions on the ground floor and residential on the floors. The 19th-century modifications, such as the narrowing of windows, highlight the successive adaptations of the building to the changing needs of its occupants.

The street façade and the corresponding roof slope were included in the inventory of Historic Monuments by order of 22 February 1964, thereby recognizing their heritage value. This classification protects in particular the carved elements and architectural traces of the 15th and 16th centuries, offering a valuable testimony of the urban evolution of Nîmes at the hinge between the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

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