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Origin and history

The Magnou house, located in Linazay in the present-day New Aquitaine, is a building representative of the 15th and 16th centuries, combining defensive and residential elements. Its left part, built in 1598, integrates into a body of older houses flanked by a round turret with a stone staircase. The facade retains an ogival door decorated with vegetal motifs and a hammered shield, while the 15th-century right-hand side is pierced by sill windows. A poterne and a 15th-century portal once closed the courtyard, highlighting its semi-fortified character.

Inside, a spiral staircase serves floors with richly ground chimneys, typical of Renaissance art. These decorative elements, combined with the stone structure, illustrate the evolution of the seigneurial houses towards more comfort at the turn of the sixteenth century. The monument, partially protected since 1977 (façades, roofs, staircases, fireplaces and gate), thus embodies the transition between the Middle Ages and the modern era in the Poitou.

The location of the house, in the heart of the village of Linazay (formerly in Poitou-Charentes), reflects its role in the feudal and then rural organization of the region. The turrets and the staircase with screws, characteristic of noble homes, suggest a function both residential and symbolic, marking the prestige of its occupants. The absence of archival documents in the source text limits the precise knowledge of its owners, but the building remains a remarkable example of civil architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries.

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