Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The house located in the 2 course Georges-Clemenceau in Bordeaux is part of the architectural complex of Gambetta Square (former Dauphine Square), one of the city's major urban projects in the 18th century. This square, conceived as a rectangular space surrounded by buildings with the classical ordinance, was initiated around 1745 by the intendant of Tourny as part of his work of remediation and beautification of Bordeaux. Although its construction was completed only between 1770 and 1780, its style reflected the aesthetic cannons of the first half of the century, with harmonized facades and rigorous urban perspectives.

Gambetta Square, second in importance after the Place de la Bourse, became a strategic crossroads where the main routes of the city converged. The Georges-Clemenceau course, on which this house is located, is one of the transverse arteries. The building itself, whose facade and roof were inscribed in the Historical Monuments by decree of 15 November 1927, illustrates this desire for architectural coherence. Its integration into a larger ensemble underlines the central role of the square in the Bordeaux town planning of the Enlightenment, marked by rational planning and unified aesthetics.

The intendant of Tourny, the key figure of this transformation, imposed a strict order for constructions bordering the square. The buildings, erected on lands west of the old Dauphine and Dijeaux gates, became models of Bordeaux classicism. Their preservation, like that of the house of the 2 cours Georges-Clemenceau, today bears witness to the urban heritage of the eighteenth century, when Bordeaux modernized to affirm its economic and cultural prestige.

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