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Origin and history

The house of the Gourgauderie, located in Saint-Germain-les-Belles in Haute-Vienne, is a building whose ground floor dates back to the 17th century and the first floor to the 18th century. Originally owned by the Pinot family, it passed in 1684 by alliance to the Doudinot family, which kept it until 1808. Its modest architecture, with a rectangular housing body covered with flat tiles, contrasts with its history linked to local military and aristocratic figures.

In 1808, the house was acquired by General Souham, Earl of Empire, who made it his residence until his death in 1837. Under its property, the building was called a "castle" in 1815, although its structure remained that of a rural mansion. After his death, his daughter, Duchess of Elchingen, sold the house by auction to a lawyer in Limoges. The furniture and decorative elements related to the general, giving the place its heritage value, disappear gradually after 1870, dispersed during the successions.

The house changed hands several times in the 19th and 20th centuries: bought in 1870 by the Gavinet family, it passed in 1909 to the Gadaud, local farmers, before being sold to a certain Gérard Souham. Abandoned since 1973, it rapidly deteriorated, losing its woodwork, carved chimneys and period furniture. Despite an inscription in the Historic Monuments in 1992, it was repealed in 2014 because of the old state of the building, originally intended to house a museum dedicated to General Souham.

Architecturally, the house consists of a stone ground floor and a half-timbered floor, with a vaulted cellar and granite fireplaces decorated with the Pinaud shield. The first floor served four full apartments, while the ground floor housed reception rooms, a kitchen with a wall bowl, and a dining room with remarkable woodwork. A secret passage once linked the cellar to the neighbouring dungeon of Saint-Germain-les-Belles, adding a mysterious dimension to the building.

Outside, the house has a blind north facade and a courtyard paved with large slabs, framed by neat agricultural buildings. A stone fountain sits in the centre of the courtyard, vestige of original amenities. The site, accessible by a steep road, dominates a narrow valley crossed by a stream, in a typical Limousin landscape, marked by chestnut trees and sloping land. The progressive abandonment has erased almost any trace of its prestigious past, reducing the place to a charming but fragile ruin.

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