Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The two houses located 5-7 rue Notre-Dame in Quintin, in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany, date from the seventeenth century. They illustrate Breton Renaissance architecture, with facades decorated with characteristic columns, pilasters and cornices. These decorative elements, such as plant capitals or ove mouldings, reflect the influence of traditional styles adapted to the local context. The doors in the middle of the hangar, the triangular frontons and the stylized mâchicoulis underline their singularity in the urban landscape of Quintin, erected in duchy in 1691.

The facades and roofs of these houses were partially listed as historical monuments by decree of 28 May 1951, recognizing their heritage value. Their conservation reflects the importance of Quintin as a city preserving 16th and 17th century buildings. The first house is distinguished by a moulded key framed with banners and a cornice crow, while the second, more sober, has a triangular pediment supported by a cornice. These architectural details reveal artisanal know-how and an aesthetic characteristic of modern-day Brittany.

Quintin, as a duchy from 1691, experienced an urban development marked by the construction of bourgeois or aristocratic residences. These houses, although less imposing than castles, embody the social prestige of their owners and the adaptation of Renaissance cannons to local traditions. Their protection in 1951 is part of a desire to preserve this civil heritage, often overshadowed by the more famous religious or military monuments of the region. Their location in the city centre, rue Notre-Dame, reinforces their anchor in the daily history of Quintin.

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