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Origin and history

Gaubert House, located at the southwest corner of Notre Dame Square in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, is an architectural testimony of the 15th and 16th centuries. Built on a parcel crossing between the Place and Rue des Drapiers, its main façade in corbellation on Rue Marcellin Fabre incorporates a stone stairwell between two wooden panel elevations. The windows, narrowed in the 18th or 19th centuries, and the statuettes disappeared on the consoles recall the successive transformations of this building, whose broken arch of the roof could date back to the late 13th or early 14th century.

Villefranche-de-Rouergue, founded in 1256 by Alphonse de Poitiers as a bastide on the banks of the Aveyron, became a prosperous commercial hub. The city, organized according to an orthogonal plan typical of the bastides, was marked by a fire in 1497 that destroyed houses before the sixteenth century. The Gaubert House, rebuilt after the fire, reflects this period of architectural renewal. Its south arch of the covered, vestige of the 13th or 14th century, and its subsequent modifications (windows, 19th century gate) illustrate the evolution of tastes and needs throughout the centuries.

Classified as a Historic Monument, the Gaubert House preserves remarkable elements such as the sculpted decoration of the arch bearing the corbellation of the stair tower and the pedestals of the original crosses. The facade on the square, on the other hand, shows little trace of the pre-19th century states. This monument thus embodies the urban and architectural history of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, between medieval heritage and modern adaptations.

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