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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Mantin House is a bourgeois house built between 1894 and 1897 in Moulins, in the Allier, on the site of a former ducal palace burned in 1755. Sponsored by Louis Mantin, rich heir to a dynasty of furniture manufacturers, it was designed by architects René-Justin Moreau and his father, Jean-Bélisaire Moreau. Its eclectic style combines seaside villa and medieval castel, with interiors decorated with woodwork, Art Nouveau stained glass windows, and Cordoba leathers.

Bequeathed to the town of Moulins in 1905, the house had to according to Mantin's will "to testify to the way of life of a bourgeois of the late nineteenth century". Opened to the public in 1910 as a museum, it closed during the interwar period for conservation reasons, before being restored and reopened in 2010. The building incorporates innovations for the period: electric lighting, hot and cold running water, central heating, and an ultra-modern bathroom with built-in towel heater.

The ground floor includes an 18th-century living room, an office with Renaissance woodwork, and an entrance decorated with cynegetic motifs. The first floor houses the rooms, including that of Louise Alaise, a companion of Mantin, decorated with paintings "four seasons", and that of Mantin himself, lined with gold leathers with mythological scenes. The second floor is dedicated to a cabinet of curiosities, reflecting his passions for archaeology, exotic objects, and science.

Louis Mantin (1851–1905), a former lawyer and senior public servant, dedicated his fortune to this mansion after inheriting the family business. Without descendants, he bequeathed the house to the city with its collections, its servants (mentioned in his will), and precise instructions for its preservation. The legacy also included donations for his servants, such as gardener Jean Simonnet or the Marie Maurillon lingerie.

Ranked a Historic Monument in 1986 for its facades, roofs, and interior decorations (dining room, work room, bedrooms, bathroom), Mantin House illustrates the bourgeois ideal of the Belle Époque: modern comfort, collectionism, and will of posterity. Its architecture and facilities make it a rare specimen of eclectic villa, between Renaissance tradition and technical innovations.

Today, the guided tour of the house (common access with the Anne-de-Beaujeu Museum) allows you to discover its original furniture, its 2,000 m2 of gardens, and its pioneering technical systems. The site highlights the role of bourgeois collectors in the constitution of local heritage, as well as the evolution of lifestyles at the turn of the twentieth century.

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