Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The building on 8 rue Saint-Georges in Rennes is located in a neighborhood marked by a rich urban history. This street linked the first Gallo-Roman enclosure of the city to the Abbey of Saint Georges, founded in the 11th century. Between 1422 and 1448, a new enclosure was built, encompassing the street and the abbey, which favoured the building of many wooden houses. These buildings reflected the progressive development of Rennes, still surrounded by medieval ramparts.

In the 17th century, the installation of the Parliament of Brittany in the Palace built by Salomon de Brosse in 1655 profoundly transformed Rue Saint-Georges. To house the parliamentary advisers and their servants, many reporting houses were built or raised. These buildings, often made of stone to replace old wooden structures, met an increasing demand for housing adapted to an expanding judicial and administrative elite. The street thus became a popular residential place, symbolizing the social prestige attached to the parliamentary function.

The fire of 1720 marked a turning point in local urban planning. After the disaster, some parliamentary families bought several wooden houses to replace them with private hotels, with courtyards and gardens. This movement, initiated in the seventeenth century, became widespread in the eighteenth century, especially south of Rue Saint-Georges. The number 8 building, whose facades and roofs were protected by decree of 21 August 1967, illustrates this architectural and social evolution, reflecting the city's adaptation to the needs of an increasingly influential aristocracy of robes.

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