HouseTarascon (13)

Price :

$2,323,100

USD

Euro € EURAmerican Dollar ($ USD)British Pound (£ GBP)

Surface982 m²bedrooms10 bathrooms2 land1,130 m²

A vast 17th century mansion, its outbuildings and its garden, a stone's throw from a medieval royal castle, at the gateway to the Camargue. Neither listed nor classified, this imposing mansion is a miraculous survivor of the Second World War. During the Liberation battles in Provence, because of its strategic position on the banks of the Rhône, Tarascon was badly hit by Allied air raids and a fifth of its surface area was destroyed. The entire section of the town between the railway station and the bridge over the Rhône was razed to the ground. The “Cours National” - pronounced 'course” by locals - developed in 1862 in the Provençal tradition as a vast space for leisure, socialising and shopping, was not spared. Rumour has it that in the 18th century, the untouched mansion housed members of the family of the explorer and naval officer Jean-François de Lapérouse, earning it for a time the nickname 'Hôtel de Lapérouse'. However, this story has never been documented. Apparently, the name of the family who originally built this edifice has been lost forever in the arcane of Provençal history. The mansion was probably sold as national property to local merchants during the French Revolution; these and others who followed ran it as a commercial and residential rental building with shops on the ground floor throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. Today, the ground floor houses business premises which have replaced the reception rooms of the past. The outbuildings served as a coaching inn for the Vallabrègues stagecoach between the 17th and 19th centuries. They have been converted into various premises, flats, a garage and a warehouse flat which extends under the perfectly restored vaulted ceiling of the former stables. The building complex - mansion and extensions - has five independent entrances opening onto the courtyard and a small perpendicular street, taking up its corner and a good part of its length.