Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The house located 65 rue Beaurepaire in Angers is an example of late medieval civil architecture. Built between the second half of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th century, it rests on an older basement, potentially dated the 12th century. Its structure combines a narrow housing body on a street front, with a street façade and wood-paned walls, while the back façade, overlooking a courtyard, is in shale masonry. The second floor, made of wood slate, and the tuffle vaulted basements bear witness to a variety of constructive techniques.

The interior organisation reveals a double dwelling in depth, served by a lateral corridor leading to a central staircase, whose position seems to be original. The low basement, vaulted in full-cinetrine, and the high basement, of low height (1.20 m to 1.50 m), suggest a embankment of the street during medieval reconstruction. A door in the middle of a courtyard, probably a 12th century bay re-use, reinforces the hypothesis of an old occupation of the site.

In the 19th century, the house underwent major changes: the reconstruction of the stairway (conserving its original location), the transformation of a window from the first floor into a window with balcony, and the addition of skylights on street and courtyard. A modern carved figure adorns the right horn post on the ground floor. An independent house at the back of the courtyard, served by the common corridor to nearby houses (65 and 67 rue Beaurepaire), is still mentioned on the 1970 cadastre. In 1989, a restoration was undertaken.

Classified as a Historical Monument by decree of 22 February 1963 for its facade and roof, this house illustrates the architectural and urban evolution of Angers, between medieval heritage and modern adaptations. Its state of conservation and its constructive details make it a valuable testimony of the Angelian habitat of the 15th to 16th centuries.

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