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Origin and history

The so-called "Templars" or "Echevinal" is in reality a 15th and 16th century civil building, located in Domart-en-Ponthieu (Somme). Although its name evokes the Templars, there is no historical connection with this order: they have never owned property in the commune. The name "echevinal house" is also wrong, as the meetings of the aldermen were held elsewhere in the village. Originally, this massive limestone house, decorated with Gothic arcades, probably belonged to a rich layman and was nicknamed the "Grand Hotel" in the 16th century.

In 1580, a fire seriously damaged the building, leading to its division into two parts: a hostelry (Saint-Nicolas) on the left and a brewery on the right. Despite the destruction suffered during the wars of the League (passage of the Spanish in 1597) and the Thirty Years War (from 1635), the structure survived. Subsequent changes, such as the loss of the original openings to the left and the transformations to the right, altered its initial appearance. The Duthoit brothers made drawings of them preserved at the Picardie Museum in Amiens.

It was in the 19th century that the building was wrongly associated with the Templars, then with the echevinage. As early as 1840, he was one of the first listed historical monuments in France. Its facade, marked by six arches in third-point and three-legged windows, illustrates the Gothic civil architecture of the region. Written sources, such as the works of Roselyne Bulan or Auguste January, confirm its heritage importance, although its exact history remains partially enigmatic.

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