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Origin and history

The Pont-Créon Manor House, located west of the city centre of Caen in the Saint-Ouen district, dates from the 16th and 17th centuries. It was erected in 1599 by the Sieur de La Motte, as evidenced by the inscription "GO DE LA MOT 1599" engraved on the building. The latter could be Georges de La Motte or Nicolas Guillaume de la Motte, lieutenant general at the bailliage of Caen and seigneur of Canchy. The mansion already appears on the plan of Caen of 1672, designed by François Bignon.

Originally, the estate was partially surrounded by walls as early as the 15th century. It was along the Little Odon River, now covered, near a bridge that gave its name to the street. The area, which was poorly urbanized before the 20th century, housed families of launderers (or "lessives") exploiting the river's waters. In the 19th century, laundry and farming activities were associated, as evidenced by the occupants Auguste-François Deverre and his wife Maria-Eugénie Groult, whitewasher and owner of the premises from 1867 to 1920.

Architecturally, the mansion is distinguished by an elegant entrance door, a pyramidal roof pavilion and a dovecote, partially destroyed in 1937. A cochère door, visible in photos of 1902, was destroyed during the German occupation (1940-1944). The site, inscribed in historical monuments since 1 June 1927, preserves traces of its agricultural and artisanal past, linked to the abbey to the Men of Caen, to which the estate was attached since William the Conqueror.

The name "Pont-Créon" would come from Sir Crion(t), who received the estate around 1255 in exchange for royalties at the Abbey. The manor house, originally called Pont-Ozouf, was a crossroads between roads leading to Bretteville-sur-Odon, the mill of Saint-Ouen and the convent of the Capucins. The area, long rural, did not surbanize until the second half of the 20th century, after the cover of Petit-Odon and the creation of subdivisions.

In 1939, Street No. 8 housed a laundry company and social housing built under the Loucheur Act. The Vauquelin, Groult, Loison and Huard families, whitewashers from generation to generation, marked local history, taking advantage of the proximity of the waters for their activities. The manor house, now protected, bears witness to this past, both seigneurial, agricultural and artisanal.

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