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Origin and history

The house in Richelieu, now listed as a Historic Monument, is part of the ambitious urban project launched by Cardinal Richelieu. The latter, born in the original village, decided to transform it into a city planned according to the principles of classical urban planning. The plans were entrusted to architect Jacques Lemercier, known for his work on the Château de Richelieu. The city was provided with a regular route, with ditches, ramparts, monumental gates and symmetrical streets, while the houses, aligned, had to respect a strict architectural harmony.

The mansion located before a town gate, including the small houses adjacent to the square, was built in 1635 on a land ceded on February 10, 1634 to Germain Gillet, adviser to the king and the gabelles. The latter signed the final act on 19 December 1634. The building, designed by Lemercier, had a wider porch than the side gate, and a niche on the first floor once housed a fountain, now extinct. The whole, partially restored around 1980, also includes numbers 1, 2, and 32 of the Grande Rue, testifying to the architectural unity desired by the cardinal.

The protection of the façade and roof by decree of 9 June 1932 underlines the heritage value of this house, representative of the rational urban planning of the seventeenth century. Richelieu, a new city born of the will of an all-powerful minister, illustrates the alliance between political power and architectural ambition, where every detail – from ditches to house alignments – served to magnify the authority of its founder.

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