A Small Historical Building, Tastefully Renovated, With Two Floors Et An Interior Courtyard, 5

A small historical building, tastefully renovated, with two floors et an interior courtyard, 5 min from Avignon, on the other side of the Rhone River. The edifice, located on Saint-Pons square, was built between 1230 and 1375 in the quarter of Bourguet, at a time when the town was experiencing unprecedented urban expansion related to the construction of the Saint-Bénézet bridge and the development of a royal hamlet around the Philippe-le-Bel tower. This new neighbourhood – the royal fortified town or Bourguet – sprouted up around the base of Mount Andaon, while Saint Pons’ church (located directly opposite the building in question and now transformed into a multimedia library) was the heart and soul of daily life in this area.

Preserved in one of the ground-floor rooms, like some kind of major historical breakthrough, a fragment of a wall featuring opus spicatum or “spiked work” masonry not only attests to the fact that this building was constructed at the time of this particular boom, but also provided an economic and convenient construction solution: the flat stones were taken directly from the ground’s surface in order to avoid costs related to dressing and transporting this material.

As for the main building, with three storeys as well as a half-level, it also includes the ground floor of the adjacent building and two-thirds of a small, jointly-owned courtyard, while the complex was initially much larger and extended from east to west between two streets, as indicated in the Napoleon land registry.

With stunning original details that were deliberately preserved and highlighted thanks to a respectful and insightful renovation carried out by the architectural firm that currently owns the property, it was possible to combine the charm of an ancient dwelling with more modern comforts, whereas the dwelling’s façade, facing fully east and painted an eye-catching burnished red ochre colour, is made up of a single bay that includes three vertically aligned windows/doors with pale surrounds, two of which are safeguarded by grey ochre shutters and matching guardrails.

In addition, its barrel tile gable roof extends over the façade, a typically Provencal feature, and boasts a double genoise cornice, while, the main building, which has been transformed into five offices, is accessible from the ground floor of the neighbouring edifice, where a reception hall, a meeting room, a kitchen and a lavatory were created.
Information on the risks to which this property is exposed is available on the Géorisques website: https://www.georisques.gouv.fr/