Along the main road that borders the western side of the city’s ancient ramparts, scattered with garden patios and overlooking the gorges of the Vézère River, private mansions and chateaus bear witness to this town’s former administrative power – the result of its loyalty to the Kingdom of France – which then only increased once it was promoted to a seneschalty in the 16th century. Today, the town’s centre is meticulously maintained with urban amenities that highlight the unity of its architectural heritage.
Initially composed of two contiguous buildings, the three-story house, with common walls on either side, is now one unified private mansion, but has kept both its front doors in order to facilitate circulation.
Facing east and the street, the house’s rubble stone façade with brushed lime plaster has been the subject of many adjustments over the centuries by the village’s royal officers, known as the “culs blancs” (“white pants”), and is punctuated by two low-arched picture windows that alternate between the two front doors. The first door, under a Gothic arch, still has its solid studded double door, while its tympanum is safeguarded by stately ironwork; the second entrance is more modest with a single door and a fanlight protected by bars. With their vaulted appearance, these large, ancient windows and doors enliven the façade without disrupting the overall harmony of the rest of its ornamental features.
On the first floor, moulded ashlar stone typical of the late 15th and early 16th centuries surrounds three deep-set windows with shutters. Rectangular in shape and identical, two of them precede, on the right, a third window topped by an ogee lintel with four moulded baguettes. Crowned with Allassac slate, in excellent condition, and rounded dormer windows, the house has a mansard roof on one side and a gabled one on the other. In addition, on its western and rear façade, a vast patio atop archways communicates with the living rooms on the ground floor and overlooks the grounds’ terraced gardens. This façade is punctuated by large wood-framed windows, which provide the various rooms with dual-aspect sunlight all day long. Lastly, on the other side of the street, an outbuilding has enough room to park one vehicle.

The House

The ground floor
A large foyer leads to a dining room with a cabochon tile floor and its adjacent fitted kitchen, the whole in an undeniably rustic style with a fireplace and its carved wooden mantle, exposed rubble stone walls and timber-framed partitions. A hallway leads to a living room with glass doors overlooking the patio, an alcove, a monumental fireplace with a straight chimneybreast and a nook that has been converted into an office. Here too, the oak hardwood floors and the exposed ceiling beams provide warmth and conviviality. Further on, a large adjacent family room, which combines a living area, dining room and a library, also looks out on the patio and is heated by a Cantou-style fireplace. Lastly, a hallway provides access to a pantry and the second street-side entrance.
The first floor
An initial half-turn wooden staircase, located in the formal living room, leads to a landing that provides access to the bedrooms. On the garden side, the first, with its own bathroom, is characterised by restored Louis XVI-style wood panelling and its understated fireplace topped with a painted panel. On the street side, a discreet hallway leads to the second bedroom, with carpet-covered hardwood floors, which combines medieval architecture – with its limestone column fireplace – and Louis XV-style joinery, including an alcove in which an independent shower room was added. The second quarter-turn staircase, located in the family room, leads to a large landing with ladder-pattern Limousin hardwood floors, which can be found in all of the house’s bedrooms. Facing the eastern bedroom, with classical 18th-century décor thanks to its wood panelling, fireplace and alcove, is an authentic Louis XV-era bedroom with gilded moulded wood panelling and a fireplace crowned with a seashell. In addition, a bathroom with a separate lavatory is located between the two suites.
The second floor
At the top of the staircase located in the living room, a landing, with a shared bathroom, leads to a bedroom with half-timber framed walls, a smaller adjacent one as well as a third with exposed and untreated ceiling beams. The two larger bedrooms are decorated with wooden column fireplaces from the end of the 18th century, but it should be noted that there is no central heating on this floor and only one washbasin.
The attic
The insulation, although existing, could be easily improved using the roof’s exposed wooden rafters, which are in excellent condition for both the mansard and gable roof sections.
The basement
Under the pantry, the first furnace room and a small storage space is located in a cellar, which communicates with the garden via a door underneath the patio. A staircase from the living room leads to another cellar with a high ceiling, partially built over wooden columns, in which the woodshed and the second furnace room are located. From here, steps provide access outside under the patio as well as to a laundry room located on the garden level.