Bastide Foundation 1256 (≈ 1256)
Created by Alphonse de Poitiers on the edge of Aveyron.
1302
Head office
Head office 1302 (≈ 1302)
Villefranche becomes an important religious centre.
1463
Right to strike currency
Right to strike currency 1463 (≈ 1463)
Sénéchalite gets royal monetary privilege.
1497
Fire of the place
Fire of the place 1497 (≈ 1497)
Destruction of houses prior to the 16th century.
vers 1500
Reconstruction of the façade
Reconstruction of the façade vers 1500 (≈ 1500)
Arcades and clair-voies date from this period.
1932
Front protection
Front protection 1932 (≈ 1932)
Registration as a Historic Monument.
1996
Gallery Classification
Gallery Classification 1996 (≈ 1996)
Protection extended to the covered gallery.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
Façade: inscription by order of 4 October 1932 - Covered gallery, façade and roof: classification by decree of 31 October 1996
Key figures
Alphonse de Poitiers - Founder of the bastide
Created Villefranche-de-Rouergue in 1256.
Michel Grezes - Sculptor and craftsman
Author of ornaments and Annunciation.
Origin and history
The Maison Bouillac, classified as Monument Historique, is distinguished by its homogeneous facade on Place Notre-Dame in Villefranche-de-Rouergue. Its arcades and clear lanes date from the reconstruction around 1500, after the fire of 1497 that ravaged the square. The house illustrates the typical architecture of the merchant houses of this bastide founded in 1256 by Alphonse de Poitiers, with shops under cover and a volumetric change on the third floor.
Villefranche-de-Rouergue, a bastide founded in 1256, became a flourishing economic center, the seat of an archpried from 1302 and endowed with the right to strike royal currency in 1463. The city, organized according to an orthogonal plan, saw its arcades build gradually. The Maison Bouillac, with its decoration of clearways and an inscription attributing the sculptures to Michel Grezes, bears witness to this post-fire prosperity, where the houses were rebuilt on the primitive plane.
The inscription engraved " michael gches fes las pses fenestas" on a bay on the first floor suggests that Michel Grezes realized the carved ornaments, including the Annunciation. This house, whose facade has been protected since 1932 and the covered gallery classified in 1996, embodies the architectural and commercial heritage of this medieval city, marked by its role as a market place and its rigorous urban planning.
