Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Maison de la Cloche, located at 9 rue des Poëlliers in Angers, is an emblematic building of the 3rd quarter of the 16th century. It consists of two symmetrical housing units, unified by a wall-pignon façade on street. Sculpted wooden frame, with torchi-shaped hounds, contrasts with the back walls in shale masonry. The cover, with two long panels and appentis, as well as the top floor in the gable, illustrate the architectural techniques of the Angelian Renaissance. Originally, the house was home to two separate owners, as evidenced by an act of sale of 1789 designating it as the Bell.

Inside, the right posterior body retains an original chimney decorated with a bas-relief, while two other chimneys date from the 1st half of the 18th century. The stairs, rebuilt in the 19th century, replaced the original structures. The carved decoration of the poles has partially disappeared, wooded for the installation of balconies or a commercial front at an indefinite time. The house underwent two major restorations: in the 1970s (restitution of the windows on the first floor, formerly windows with balconies Louis XVI) and in the 1990s, after a fire damaged the facade.

Classified as a Historic Monument since 1929, the protection specifically concerns the facade and roof. The building reflects the evolution of domestic and commercial usage in the city centre, from its construction to modern adaptations. The traces of fire and successive modifications (like the balconies of the eighteenth century) highlight its turbulent history, linked to the artisanal and bourgeois life of Angers. The rue des Poëlliers, where it stands, was historically an animated axis, as evidenced by notarial acts and architectural transformations.

External links