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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Robin Quantin Hotel is a Renaissance mansion located in the Old Towers, built around 1590 by Charles Robin, lord of Courçay and master of waters and forests, and his wife Marie Quantin. Originally from a family of silk merchants, they erected this monument at the site of an old hotel belonging to Jean Dupuy, where Jeanne d'Arc had stayed in 1429 before its demolition in the 16th century. The land was acquired in 1578 by Charles Robin's father, then bourgeois and alderman of Tours.

The hotel's architecture is organized around two inner courtyards. The first courtyard has two wings perpendicular to the main house, while the second, rectangular, is surrounded by square buildings and commons. The south facade, adorned with five arches almost in the middle of the hanger, alternates grotesque mascarons and carved consoles. To the west, a door in a cradle surmounted by a frieze decorated with rinceaux and triglyphs has a shield supported by loves and lions, symbols of the Robin and Quantin families.

The interior preserves fireplaces and woodwork from the 17th century, although the hotel underwent renovations in the 18th century. Ranked a historic monument in 1973 for its facades, roofs and interior staircase, its attribution to the Robin Quantin family rests on the interpretation of the monogram CR MQ (Charles Robin and Marie Quantin), suggesting a construction between the late 16th and early 17th century. No document formally confirms this attribution, but the stylistic and historical elements make it plausible.

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