The road on which the property lies is currently being revived. It used to be set back from Falaise’s commercial vibrancy, even though it is near the town centre. Today it has more life in it. Not far away, there is Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais Church, an 11th-century edifice listed as a historical monument. The home dates back to the 18th century. It is the result of two buildings being joined together. Plots like the ones on which these buildings were made often belonged to religious communities. At the end of France’s Ancien Régime, many of these plots were divided up, sold and turned into homes. For owners, they represented investments as they brought in rent paid by the families living in them. The upper-middle classes of Falaise settled on this street. You can see this in the elegant appearance of the edifices that stand along it. Indeed, on this road, there are still sumptuous townhouses with gardens and courts. The property’s street-side facade faces north-west. One of the buildings of this unified property has a second floor and the other one has a third floor. The plain facades, main of Caen stone, are rendered. The home’s gabled slate roofs each have a chimney stack. They are dotted with roof windows too. On the ground floor, the left-hand building has a glazed double door and a garage door and the right-hand building has a front door and a window fitted with metal shutters. These openings fill the interior with natural light. On the upper floors, there are four windows in the left-hand building and six in the other. These windows were recently replaced. You can see their original surrounds of exposed stone. Further to the right, there is a covered carriage entrance where there is a secondary exit door. And at the back of the property, the ground floor has a half-open gallery with a terrace and an arbour. It looks out at a south-east-facing court with vegetation and a pond. Exposed Caen stone has been preserved on this side. From the secret tree-dotted garden, you can admire a view of a 19th-century building.

The house

The two buildings were originally separate units, but they were joined together at the two levels they share. So you can move around inside the home smoothly and you can imagine possibilities for development in it too.

The ground floor
From the street, two entrance doors lead into the first three rooms of the right-hand building. The first room has an 18th-century stone fireplace. The two other rooms lie beyond it. All three rooms were probably once a shop or a caretaker’s lodge. Some of the walls have kept their exposed stonework. The concrete floors are ready to be tiled. Different partition walls have been opened up for a better layout. A stone spiral staircase, perhaps from before the 18th century, has a counterpart in the second building. More recent features have been added to older parts as the two buildings were not originally made as a single unit. The left-hand entrance area is like a patio with stone walls and glazed doors. At the back of the second staircase, a section has been converted into a relaxation space divided into three rooms: a Finnish sauna, a hammam and a room for resting. A workshop, a lavatory, hallways and a cellar complete this ground floor.

The first floor
The first floor has many connecting spaces. It is organised around a modern, extensive dining room with a fireplace of Caen stone. Floor tiles of two tones and cylindrical pillars give the whole space a certain modern touch. Further on, there is a kitchen with a dining area and an old fireplace, near a door that leads to a flight of stairs. Around these two central rooms there are four lounges with different tones and ambiences. Each one has an 18th-century stone fireplace. Exposed stonework forms the walls. The floors are covered with wood strips, terracotta tiles or 19th-century cement tiles. One of the lounges has a skylight. There is also a shower room and a lavatory on this floor.

The second floor
A landing leads to the second floor. Up here, there is a spacious bedroom with wood strip flooring and an old fireplace of marble and terracotta. Two south-east-facing windows look out at the tree-dotted court. There is a shower room beside the bedroom. On the other side, there is a second spiral staircase. It climbs up to an intermediate landing. There is an extensive space that has been turned into an office. To the right, via a cleverly designed staircase walkway, you reach a room that has been turned into an audiovisual space. And further on, a space leads to the loft. Lastly, a few extra steps take you to a last bedroom, which has a floor of terracotta tiles. There is a lavatory nearby.

The attic
The spiral staircase gives way to a flight of wooden stairs. The top floor has a bedroom with exposed beams and a floor of terracotta tiles. There is also a mezzanine up here with wood strip flooring. And there is a shower room too.