Ancien hospice de Grandchamp ou Notre-Dame de la Consolation

English translation

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History

Hospice Notre-Dame-de-la-Consolation founded by Félicie-Madeleine Chesne, widow Robert, on her property of Grandchamp, to house the elderly there, and which she dedicated to the memory of her husband and her sister-in-law, both deceased in 1878. It was built between 1880 and 1885 on the plans of a Parisian architect not clearly identified, A. Bonnet. Ensemble composed of a large central chapel with high stone spire, flanked by two symmetrical pavilions of two storeys and five bays, intended, to the north for women, to the south for men. The chapel is in Latin cross plan with chevet of three faces and flying buttresses, in stylised neo-Gothic. The interior is vaulted with ribs in limestone on pillars with capitals sculpted with a series of crockets. Ensemble of stained glass, dated 1885, representing the figures of the Holy Family, the patron saints of the dedicatees, local saints and two scenes from the life of Christ (nativity and passion). Signature in the form of monogram L.C. or G. (Luc Gesta ?). Some elements of original furnishings are preserved (holy water basin, confessional, altar, reliquary). The spire of the chapel was completed by Jules Tixier, following a disagreement between the first master of works and the contractor. The two pavilions are characterised by their simply rendered façades enlivened by bands separating the storeys and the stone framing of the openings, the gables with trilobed cut-out and small trefoil opening above the windows of the storey, and corner pinnacles. The interior, partly modified in its divisions to allow habitation, is known from a plan: T-shaped corridor on the ground floor, serving service rooms and a dormitory; doubtless bedrooms on the upper storey, served by a central corridor. The Roberts were a family of notables known in Le Dorat from the end of the 16th century. To Pierre Robert, lieutenant general of the seneschalcy of Basse-Marche in the first half of the 17th century, we owe precious notes on the history of Limousin and Marche.