Immeuble dit « Hôtel de Montmorency »

English translation

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History

The hôtel is situated in the heart of the old quarter and belonged to Guillaume de Castilhon whose ownership is attested by the compoix of 1605 and by his arms on the pediment of the entrance gateway. The construction dates essentially from the first half of the 17th century. Richelieu was reportedly lodged there during the passage of King Louis XIII in 1632. Several owners succeeded one another thereafter until 1877 when Cavallier, president of the Court, had the whole remodelled and made homogeneous in an eclectic mixture of neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance by the architect Vivier. The organization in a quadrilateral around a courtyard, to which one accedes by a passage with an arch, remains faithful to the medieval Mediterranean tradition, as does the tall square staircase tower. The street façade rises one storey above the ground floor and a half storey under the roof space. The architectural characteristics of this building are very representative of the trend then current in Béziers: sober elevations with limited decoration, at the portal with a pediment ornamented with heavy bosses. The staircase possesses a ceiling with coffering of plaster retouched in the 19th century. The great hall of the first storey has retained its ceiling with small beams painted with figured motifs and landscapes.