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Origin and history

The Dugas house, located at 23 Rue Juiverie in Lyon, is a house built in the early seventeenth century, famous for its facade adorned with many carved lion heads, which is worth the nickname "House of Lions' Heads". It has been built on several medieval plots and has an inner courtyard with a remarkable staircase and a well. The house bears witness to the residential architecture of the late Renaissance and the beginning of the classical era in Old Lyon, a neighborhood where rich merchants and traders lived.

Its construction began in 1617 at the initiative of Jérôme Lentillon, an influential Lyon merchant, and probably ended around 1647, when the building took on its present appearance. The house is erected on the meeting of several medieval plots, which explains the exceptional width of its facade in this old neighborhood. After construction, the house passed into the hands of influential families, including the Medici, and later the Dugas family, which acquired it in 1750 and gave it its present name.

The house is partially listed as historical monuments for its facades and roofs by order of 17 April 1952. The facade, made of grey stone, has five levels and is distinguished by its Florentine style bosses and its twelve to fifteen lion heads carved in relief. A niche of an angle houses a statue of the Virgin, while the ground floor is rhythmized by arcades and flat rides, typical of the seventeenth century.

The inner courtyard, accessible from the street, has a well and a straight flight staircase based on columns, considered one of the most elegant in the neighborhood. The building is also surrounded by many legends, including one evoking a Jewish treasure hidden in the house, and another linking lion heads to a riddle left by the alchemist Nicolas Flamel.

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