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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The residence of the Chancellor of Montrésor is a private hotel built in 1581 as an outbuilding of the nearby castle, on the rocky spur overlooking the Grande Rue. Oriented north-south, it is distinguished by its façade is raised in relation to the street and a scauguette at the southeast corner, carried by a cul-de-lampe. Its Renaissance architecture includes two splinters decorated with foliage and roses, restored in the 1990s.

Originally owned by a possible member of the Batarnay family (an inscription mentions F. de Batarnai in 1581), the house became in 1860 the seat of the local gendarmerie, leased by Count Xavier Branicki after its acquisition in 1869. The gendarmerie occupied the area until 1993, when the renovated building housed the town hall and the municipal library. This restoration was awarded in Montrésor the Departmental Prize for Heritage Rubans in 1997.

Partially classified as historical monuments since 1962 (façades, roofs and skylights), the house retains original stoneware, with the exception of the eastern façade, covered with a modern coating. Its peak, illuminated by Renaissance skylights, and its corner tower have been restored identically. An engraved stone (1581) attests to its date of construction, excluding any attribution to François de Batarnay (died 1513).

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