Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The house Monnier is a mansion built around 1795 in Sigy-le-Châtel, in the department of Saône-et-Loire (region Burgundy-Franche-Comté). This building is distinguished by its raised level of housing on a vaulted cellar in a cradle, supplemented by a floor of attices. Access is via two straight stairs, one to the north, the other to the south, the latter leading to an open gallery supported by monolithic stone columns. The central body, flanked by two roof towers in the pavilion, houses a dovecote in the eastern tower, a typical feature of the affluent rural properties of the period.

Inside, the house has kept an original layout in its main rooms, although some decors are more recent. Among the ancient elements preserved are a vegetable garden, a rock sink, and tomette floors, testimony of 18th century domestic uses. Ranked a historic monument since August 20, 2009, Monnier House illustrates the bourgeois residential architecture of the end of the Ancien Régime, marked by a mixture of agricultural functionality (caves, dovecote) and comfort (galerie, symmetrical stairs).

The location of the house, at 5045 Rue de Bourbon, in a village of the Burgundy Bresse, reflects the rural and seigneurial context of the region at that time. Master houses like this often served as residences for landowners or local notables, playing a central role in the economic and social organization of the countryside. Their preservation now offers insight into lifestyles and social hierarchies before the Industrial Revolution.

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