HouseAvignon (84)

Price :

$3,286,700

USD

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

Surface930 m²bedrooms12 bathrooms5 land996 m²

A consular building with a six century long history, with salons, nine apartments, outbuildings and a 600 m² garden in the heart of Avignon. The residence is strategically located in one of the inner city pedestrianised streets, which once followed the outer contours of the first city wall. From the Middle Ages onwards, the street was occupied by craftsmen who polished armour, hence its current name. A leather market was also held here until the marshal of the Roman court moved it elsewhere.
The residence was built in 1364 under the pontificate of Pope Urban V. At the time, it was inhabited by Peysonnier, the papal money-changer, before being sold to a lord from Turin, Gabriel de Fogasse, who came to settle in the city as first consul. It still has a number of prominent features from the period, including a remarkable octagonal tower housing one of the four staircases.
Over the centuries, it took on the various styles that it still bears today. These styles are so different and so intertwined, ranging from Renaissance to Classicism, that putting them together was rather disconcerting for some.
Each illustrious member of the family that occupied it for several centuries, including six papal and royal ambassadors, left their own very personal mark on it. The noble features of the facade which can be seen on the street are a perfect illustration of this stately past.
In 1795, the family, whose name the house bears, was expelled when the papal city lost its status as the jewel of the Holy Roman Empire and became an ordinary French town.
In the 19th century, its new owner, the largest madder merchant in the region, took advantage of the closure of one of the two streets that bordered the residence to annex a former public square and create an imposing 600 m² garden.
Since then, the house has had many occupants and fortunes, until one woman fell in love with it and turned it into the not-to-be-missed festival venue it has become.