Immeuble dit Maison Muratet

English translation

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History

This house is an interesting example of medieval civil construction. Built partly in the 13th century, then enlarged in the 15th, the house today consists of several building blocks of different periods. Recent clearances have made it possible to recover the architectural unity of the oldest block which undoubtedly constituted an independent house datable to the first half of the 13th century. This trapezoidal house, two storeys, covered with a two-pitched roof, presents a street-facing facade which, despite 19th-century alterations, retains its dressed stone masonry and all the elements capable of recomposing its original arrangement: three levels bounded by projecting moulded cordons at the level of the window sills (the first cordon rested on a series of sculpted modillions); a series of arcades on the first level (ground-floor shops); two levels of four twin windows in pointed arch, connected to each other by cordon moldings at impost level. At the end of the 15th century, the broken arcades of the ground floor were replaced by segmental arcades and a door with lintel decorated with a crowning accolade. Most of the twin windows were transformed into cross-windows. The elevation on the courtyard was rebuilt in rubble stone at the end of the 15th century. The first floor was composed of two rooms separated by a timber framing and wattle partition, resting against a central stone pier. This partition has retained significant remains of a decoration of mural paintings representing griffons in interlaced medallions and an upper frieze of armed knights. This decoration can be dated to the first half of the 13th century. There are also some traces of interior fittings from the late Middle Ages and the 17th century. The spiral staircase with core was constructed in an ovoid cage in semi-hors-oeuvre on the lateral facade, originally on the street. Thanks to its entrance door in pointed arch and various openings, its construction can be placed at the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century. It can be considered as one of the first examples of spiral staircases which progressively replaced the old straight wooden or stone staircases in Saint-Antonin.