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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The house located at 158 Eau-de-Robec Street in Rouen is one of only two early seventeenth century stone buildings still standing in this emblematic street. Built on top of the Robec, a river today buried, its limestone façade on the first two levels is decorated with bosses and sculpted motifs inspired by engravings of the School of Antwerp, introduced by the Flemish drapiers installed in Rouen. These decorative elements reflect the artistic and commercial influence of Flemish communities in the region at that time.

The top three floors, in wooden strips, date from the 18th century, when the house was probably raised from one or two levels. The bays of the upper floors were redesigned at the same time, illustrating an architectural evolution typical of the Rouennais bourgeois houses. The facade and roof were inscribed in the Historical Monuments by decree of 5 March 1962, emphasizing its heritage importance.

Eau-de-Robec Street, where this house stands, was historically an intense place of activity for dyers, whose workshops colored the Robec water according to the dyes used. This neighborhood, described by authors such as Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant, was marked by an industrial and popular atmosphere, where there was a mixture of chemicals, artisanal activities and working life. The master draper house thus bears witness to the golden age of the textile industry of the wheel of France, before the gradual disappearance of the Robec and the urban transformation of the twentieth century.

The Robec, canalized and buried between 1938 and 1941, left room for a partially pedestrian street, rehabilitated in the 1970s. The house on 158 Eau-de-Robec Street, with its preserved architectural elements, offers a rare overview of urban planning and economic activities that shaped Rouen in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its inscription among the Historical Monuments makes it a precious testimony of this industrial and artisanal heritage.

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