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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

This semi-mitoyan house of the 15th century, located 19 rue Saint-Guenhaël in Vannes, is a rare testimony of medieval Breton civil architecture. Built between 1421 and 1426 (dendrochronological dating), it rests on a vaulted cellar much older, probably from the 12th or 13th centuries, separated from the neighbouring cellar by an arcade in the middle of the hangar. The facade on street, in corbellation, combines stone on the ground floor and wooden panels on the floors, with a commercial stall added later, perhaps in the seventeenth century.

The interior structure reveals a typical organization of the merchant houses: a single room per level, served by a wooden screw staircase, and chimneys attached to the south wall (except on the second floor, where it is moved to the west). Analyses show that the second-storey woodpan was taken back, probably in the 17th century, while interior developments (closing, modified chimneys) date back to the 19th century. A 2011 study confirms the consistency of construction dates between 1422 and 1426 for most of the frame.

The archives mention that in 1670, the house belonged to the Rector of Campénéac, François Le Goable, who rented it to a charcutier (lardier). In that year, repairs were ordered to Gilles Michel, master mason, for the chimney on the ground floor, suggesting an adaptation to commercial uses. The cellar, once accessible by a miller's ladder, preserves traces of its medieval use, as a day of lighting carved in the massif of lethal. The wall cabinets and shutter closing systems (rafts in the walls) illustrate the ingenuity of the household arrangements of the time.

Ranked as a Historic Monument in 1943 for its façade and roof, the house has undergone recent restorations (XX-XXI century), revealing architectural details such as beams supporting the glaze corbelling or original flooring. The roof structure, partially preserved, shows a torchi-shaped head farm replaced by brick in the 20th century. The latrines, shared with the neighbouring house (n°17), were lit by one day and accessible via a 19th century gate.

This house embodies the evolution of Breton urban habitats, combining residential and commercial functions. Its screw staircase, its oblique hood chimneys (including an intact on the second floor), and its complex carpentry reflect both the social status of its occupants – probably wealthy merchants – and the successive adaptations to practical needs, from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

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