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Origin and history

The Manor House of the Hautière, located on Rue Claude-Guillon-Verne in Nantes, is a seigneurial building whose first parts date back to the late 14th century. It is built of granite, shale and tuft, and is distinguished by an irregular facade and hexagonal tower. This monument, which was listed as a historical monument in 1926, has undergone many transformations and uses over the centuries, including as a prison during the French Revolution.

In 1594, Henry IV and Gabrielle d'Estrées stayed there when the edict of Nantes was signed. In 1661 Louis XIV spent one night there during his visit to preside over the states of Brittany. The mansion belongs successively to noble families like the Boislève, the Ragau, and the Carré de Lusançay, who lost it during the Revolution. He was then transformed into a prison, where the Admiral of the Chaffaut died in 1794.

In the 19th century, the mansion changed hands several times and served as a refuge during the 1870 and 1914-1918 wars. In 1906, it was acquired by the commune of Chantenay-sur-Loire and then by Nantes in 1908. After a period of abandonment, he was rehabilitated in 1968 by the Companion Union, which set up a museum of ancient crafts and tools.

The architecture of the mansion reflects its many eras of construction. The main façade, oriented to the east, has fifteen irregular openings, and two Romanesque-style doors. One of the houses seems to have housed an alchemy workshop, while a hexagonal tower dominates the whole to the west. The skylights, pierced in the 15th century, are decorated with tufted decorations.

The manor house is today a testimony of the history of Nantes, mixing architectural heritage and memory of the political and social events that took place there, from the Old Regime to the contemporary era.

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