Ancien hôtel de Caisse d'Epargne, actuel centre d'affaires Alfred de Vigny

English translation

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History

Built between 1907 and 1909 in neo-Gothic style by architect Eugène Bruneau, the former Savings Bank Hotel of Loches can be considered as a witness to the development of the town in the early 20th century. Its architecture and especially the decoration of the street façade - the inscribed engravings or the arms of the town, for example - recall the tastes of the local bourgeoisie for this type of architecture but also the concern to insert the building as perfectly as possible into the urban landscape. The plan comprises two wings arranged along rue des Jeux and rue Alfred-de-Vigny. The entrance is made at the corner of these streets by a façade treated as a cut corner. The two-storey façades are rhythmed by tall geminated round-arch openings with transoms. Quadripetal roses complete the decoration. The tall pitched roofs covering the two entrances, the false gables dormers and the heraldic elements affirm references to medieval architecture. On the other hand, the tablets bearing inscriptions glorifying savings place the building undoubtedly in the late 19th and early 20th century; they forcefully recall the original purpose of the Savings Bank: to combat the ignorance and misery which are the basis of all vices.