Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The house at 9 Gambetta Street in Roscoff is an old shipowner's or merchant's house built between 1550 and 1600, with transformations to the upper parts of the 19th century. His L-shaped plan, marked by a granite staircase turret decorated with merchant weapons, reflects his social status. The presence of five shooting openings (three to the east, two to the north and the south) underscores its role in the harbour defence system, then on the edge of the strike. These burnings, now blocked, could accommodate arquebuses or small cannons.

This house is part of an older complex, including a adjoining wall and a cellar dating from the beginning of the sixteenth century, remains of an earlier construction. Unique with the so-called house of Marie Stuart (25 rue Amiral-Réveillère), it has a two-storey inner gallery, decorated with various capitals, testifying to the prosperity of the roscovite traders. Its inscription as a Historic Monument in 1997 protects the home and its adjoining wall, key elements of the Breton maritime heritage.

Originally open to the port, this house illustrates the hybrid architecture of shipowners' residences: place of life, trade (gallery for goods?) and defense. The sculpted weapons and the scald recall the risks of piracy or commercial conflicts in the 16th-17th centuries, when Roscoff was a major maritime crossroads, especially for the traffic of wine and canvases to England.

The materials (granite, slates) and techniques (open sprocket, noue) are characteristic of the local architecture. The slate cover and long-paned roof reflect adaptation to Breton weather conditions. The house, now closed to the visit, remains an exceptional testimony of the golden age of the merchants of Roscoff, before the decline of the traditional harbour activities.

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