Ancien hôtel Benavent

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

Building constructed on the site of the Hospital of the Cross, attested in the Middle Ages. It is not impossible that certain parts of the current main structure correspond to some vestiges of the hospital, as the small masonry visible on the rear facade seems to testify. The whole of the building dates from the 17th century and was altered in the 18th. The building consists of four ranges of buildings, developing around an internal courtyard of roughly square plan. The main range is on two storeys over ground floor. The other buildings have a roof space in addition. The facade facing the street, whose arrangement dates from the 18th century, retains vestiges of old openings, notably the segmental arch of a 16th-century carriage door. In the axis of the facade, the entrance presents itself as a wide portal with rectangular frame, flanked by two plain pilasters supporting a cornice with drip moulding on a row of mutules. The corner of the facade is cut away in a quarter-round at ground-floor level, the edge being compensated by a kind of corner squinch. The entrance is followed by a covered passage with a French ceiling (17th century), which opens onto the courtyard through three round arches. The courtyard is decorated, in one of its corners, by an 18th-century well set against a niche whose cul-de-four is decorated with a decorative shell.