luxury listed house for sale Loir-et-Cher, France

A 15th-century house listed as a historical monument with a timber-framed facade of masterfully carved beams, nestled in the historical heart of Blois, opposite the city’s cathedral. The centuries-old house – “La Maison des Acrobates” – is listed as a historical monument. It is doubtless the oldest civil dwelling that still stands in the heart of Blois. It combines timber-framed architecture with expressive sculptures and subtle symbolism. Its remarkable facade of wooden beams with cob filler and brick is typical of the 15th century. There is a ground floor, two upstairs floors with corbelling and a third floor in the roof space. A spiral staircase links the levels together. Apart from the top floor, each level is taken up by a single room. On the ground floor, there is, on one side, a large front window – the token of a former shop here. And on the other side, there are two studded wooden entrance doors: one leads straight to the house and the other one leads to a corridor that takes you to the neighbouring house at the back. Small-paned casement windows, probably enlarged in the 18th or 19th century, bring natural light into the upstairs floors. On the third floor, two gabled dormers frame a hipped dormer, which is bigger, upon a slate roof. The back windows look out at the court of a neighbouring townhouse.