Maison Treilhes

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

The Treilhes family, present in Artonne from the 16th century onwards, became royal notaries from father to son from the 17th century. One of them, Claude Treilhes, had the present house built in the 18th century (dated 1774 on the door), probably on the site of an older house, since two blocked medieval openings are found on the façade on rue Mercière. The single-storey building at the corner of rue Mercière, formerly open onto the square, was long used as a market hall during fairs and markets, before being closed in the 19th century. The widow of Jean-Baptiste Treilhes, Marie-Madeleine Rouher (1775-1846), aunt of Eugène Rouher (minister under the Second Empire), had to carry out work on the house since her name appears on the garden portal with the date of 1812. It is very probable that she also had the panoramic wallpaper in the drawing room installed, since it has been dated to the 1810s.

Description

The property occupies a block surrounded by walls between the church and the fountain square. It comprises a main house and at the rear a barn and a garden. The residential part is composed of three buildings in a U shape around a courtyard closed by a gate on Rue Mercière: to the north, a wing with four storeys (reception rooms, bedrooms), to the west, a wing with three storeys (service rooms and bedrooms), to the south, a single-storey building covered with a terrace. Behind this complex, there is an enclosed garden and a barn. The constructions have dressed Volvic stone surrounds and rendered masonry. They are covered with tiles. Inside, the principal rooms display fittings and decorations of the 18th or 19th century, simple but very well preserved (joinery, alcoves, fireplaces in stone or marble, pier glasses, parquetry...). The panoramic wallpaper in the reception room covers three of the walls, above wainscot. There are nineteen lengths of joined wallpaper, representing ten different scenes (including doubles and triples), among the thirteen known. They are surmounted by a trellis. Inside, all the distribution, including a staircase with central wall have been preserved, as well as the fireplaces, parquetry, joinery and panelling of the 18th and 19th centuries. The most exceptional element is the panoramic wallpaper in the reception room of the north wing. Of unknown manufacture, it has been dated to around 1810. Of an original unknown title, it is referred to as "Revolutionary Scenes" or "The Arrival of Replacements or the Return from Pontoise". Against a backdrop of a street (probably Parisian), are represented various rather picturesque scenes, bringing together characters of different generations, social classes and costumes. They are inspired by engravings, some identified as being by Boilly and dated 1797/1798, and clearly evoke the context of the post-revolutionary years, bringing together aristocratic émigrés, fashionable gilded youth and peasants who acquired national properties.