Origin and history
The Romano-Gothic house, located at 15 rue Croix-Baragnon in Toulouse, is one of the oldest civil buildings in the city, dated from the beginning of the fourteenth century. It illustrates an architecture of transition between Romanesque and Gothic styles, marked by an exceptional carved decoration on its capitals and bands. This decor, created by a workshop of sculptors active in the region, combines plant motifs, real or fantastic animals, and musical or cynegetic scenes. The house was originally composed of two building bodies: one brick on the street, the other wooden on the courtyard, with an earlier cellar conditioning its structure.
In the 17th century, the house underwent major reshuffles under the impulse of François d'Aldéguier, treasurer of France. The building body on courtyard is then rebuilt in brick, and the interior distribution modified, while the street façade loses its top medieval floor in woodpan, replaced by an intermediate floor. These transformations partially altered the Gothic arcades on the ground floor, dedicated to shops. The house, initially larger, belonged to influential families of the Toulouse elite, such as the Benazet or the Benoist, before being divided in 1650.
Restoration campaigns carried out after 1990, especially in 1998, have partially restored its original aspect. Medieval frescoes rediscovered in 1991 and architectural studies revealed the quality of 14th century constructions, as well as contemporary geometrical wall paintings of the building. Ranked as a Historic Monument in 1923 on its second floor, the house saw its ranking extended to the entire building in 1997. Today, it bears witness to both Toulouse's medieval craftsmanship and the architectural evolutions of the 17th and 20th centuries.
The 14-metre-long facade is distinguished by its five geminied bays on the second floor, decorated with carved capitals representing human faces, monsters, and foliage. Two sculpted bands, richly decorated with musical scenes, hunting, and shields, run along the entire width. The third floor, added in 1923, contrasts with its lack of decoration. Inside, the large room on the second floor, equipped with a monumental fireplace, opened onto secondary rooms such as a room with black and red roses, and a screw staircase leading to the upper levels.
The house has traversed centuries by changing owners, often linked to the Toulouse parliamentary aristocracy. Among them, Jacques Bénazet (1477), a member of a family of capituls, or Clément-Marie Leblanc, an adviser to Parliament executed during the Terror in 1794. These families have marked the history of the building, between enlargements, divisions, and adaptations to residential or commercial uses. The traces of these successive occupations, such as the 17th century modifications or the additions of the 20th century, make it an architectural palimpsest.
The medieval cellar, remarkable by its volume, and the elevations on courtyard, crowned with a cornice with three springs, complete this ensemble. Geometrical wall paintings on the second floor, rediscovered in 1991, confirm the dating of construction at the 13th and 14th centuries hinge. Despite the alterations suffered, the Romano-Gothic house remains a valuable testimony of the medieval Toulouse urban habitat, combining commercial and residential functionality in a sculpted decor of rare originality.
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