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Origin and history

The house of Richelieu, built in 1632, is part of the ambitious urban project of Cardinal Richelieu, who wanted to transform his native village into an ideal city. The plans were entrusted to the architect Jacques Lemercier, also responsible for the castle, and carried out by the entrepreneur Jean Thiriot. The building, completed in 1633 according to the drawings of Jean Barbet, reflects the architectural harmony of the city, marked by symmetrical streets, ditches and aligned houses. This project was part of a desire for modernity and spatial control, typical of the planned cities of the time.

The house preserves original elements, such as its facade and roof protected since 1932, but also incorporates later additions: fireplaces and 18th-century panelling, mounted on the ground floor of number 4. These changes illustrate the evolution of tastes and needs over the centuries, while preserving the original structure designed for a model city. Richelieu, with its geometrical layout and monumental doors, thus embodies 17th century urban utopia, combining military rigor and classical aesthetics.

The monument was inserted into a larger whole, where each element – from ditches to house alignments – responded to a logic of power representation. The market place, where the house is located, was a central place in economic and social life, reflecting the importance attached to order and symmetry. Today, this house demonstrates both the cardinal's ambition and subsequent adaptations, offering a concrete example of the civil architecture of the Old Regime.

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