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Origin and history

The house located at 17 rue Saint-Guenhaël in Vannes is a 16th century building, built on a corner plot without free space. It is distinguished by its mixed structure: granite bellows on the south façade, and wooden panels on the north and east floors. The house rests on a vaulted cellar in cradle, probably dating from the 12th or 13th century, shared with n°19. This cellar, much older than the current house, suggests the existence of an earlier building on the site.

Architectural analysis reveals at least two construction campaigns. The ground floor and the first floor, with their characteristic windows and arcades, could go back to the second half of the fourteenth century. A corbelled courier, now extinct, was once supported by salient consoles on the east wall. The elevation of one storey, probably at the end of the 16th century, removed this courier. The peak seems to have been built in the 19th century.

The 2012 dendrochronological studies indicate that first- and second-story floor wood was implemented in the fall/winter 1447-1448, while the northern wood strip, floor, and roof frame date back to 1636-1640. The house belonged to Eon Hervé in 1455, then to the chapter of the Cathedral of Vannes in 1654, before becoming a report house in 1677, owned by Suzanne Guyot. In the 19th century, it was owned by Jean-Marie Allanic, a carpenter, who tried unsuccessfully to restore the degraded wood sections.

The facades on streets and the roof were inscribed in the Historical Monuments by order of 15 January 1929. The house illustrates the architectural and social evolution of Vannes, moving from a medieval private residence to an ecclesiastical property, then to a rental dwelling. The interior fittings largely disappeared in the 20th century, but iron and wood reinforcements now maintain the structure.

Among the remarkable details are beams supported by strong legs resting on crowlets carved of griming figures, as well as a third-point window overlooking a commercial stall. These elements, combined with the raised door on the ground floor, testify to the commercial activity that animated this area of Vannes in medieval and modern times.

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