Manoir de la Hautière: A Historic Manor and Museum in Nantes
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Brittany
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Manor House
On this page12 sections
History
The Manoir de la Hautière is a small seigneurial manor in Nantes, France, with parts dating from around the end of the fourteenth century. Guillaume Boislève is the earliest known owner. The complex later became associated with royal visits, changing families of proprietors, periods of refuge, and the craft traditions represented by its present museum.
Seigneurial Ownership and Royal Visits
Several owners are associated with La Hautière during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Pierre Charette owned it in 1587. In 1594, Henri IV, king of France from 1589 to 1610, stayed at the manor with Gabrielle d’Estrées during his residence in Nantes, on the occasion of the signing of a famous edict. Michel Ragau and his wife, Françoise d’Achon, were described as lords of La Hautière and Lusançay in 1610.
Other owners included René Foucaud, a master of accounts, in 1640. In 1661, Louis XIV spent one night at La Hautière while visiting Nantes to preside over the States of Brittany, the representative assembly of the province. The Carré de Lusançay family acquired the manor in 1709.
Revolutionary and Nineteenth-Century Changes
The Carré de Lusançay family was dispossessed of the property during the French Revolution, when the building was converted into a prison. Admiral du Chaffaut died there in 1794. During the Empire, the family recovered the manor in poor condition. The heirs of Nicolas Michel, the family’s last owner and resident, later sold the property. Michel had died at the manor in 1791.
The property subsequently passed to the Saint-Pern family and, in 1825, to Édouard Thominé. It remained a bourgeois residence with outbuildings and an eleven-hectare estate. The Gaboriaud family acquired it in 1863. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the manor served as a gathering place for Nantes volunteers joining the Army of the Loire. In 1883, it passed to Mrs Lac and later, by inheritance, to her daughter, Mrs Perodeau. The Marquise de La Tullaye is also among the owners associated with the property.
Municipal Ownership and Public Uses
The municipality of Chantenay-sur-Loire acquired the property in 1906 for municipal octroi services. An octroi was a customs duty collected by a town or city, commonly at its entrance. La Hautière also served as a meeting place for the Breton community of Upper Brittany. When Nantes annexed Chantenay in 1908, the city became the owner of the manor.
During the First World War, the building housed civilian refugees from combat zones and occupied areas. After the war, Nantes planned to convert it into public housing, but the project had not been carried out by 1940. At the beginning of the Second World War, the site again served as a refuge. After 1945, the manor was abandoned and occupied.
Heritage Protection and Museum Use
The manor was entered on France’s supplementary inventory of historic monuments by an order dated 7 January 1926. In 1968, the Union Compagnonnique rehabilitated the site and installed an exhibition venue for works and old tools associated with the Compagnons du Tour de France des Devoirs Unis. The Union Compagnonnique is connected with French craft and journeyman traditions. The collections include tools from professions that had disappeared. The Manoir de la Hautière is owned by the City of Nantes and functions as a museum.
Remains
The Manor Complex
The surviving manor consists of three adjoining houses built from granite, schist, and tuffeau limestone. Its principal facade faces east and contains fifteen openings with irregular forms and arrangement. Together, the connected houses preserve the varied materials and architectural elements that developed across the complex.
Facade and Medieval Openings
Tuffeau, a relatively soft and pale limestone widely used in western France, was used for the openings of the dormers. These windows project from a sloping roof, and their decoration indicates that this work was carried out in the fifteenth century. Two doors are Romanesque in style, meaning that they use forms associated with the medieval Romanesque architectural tradition.
Porch, Staircase, and Fireplace
A third door is sheltered by a porch containing a spiral staircase. The staircase leads to an apartment with a monumental fireplace, linking the entrance structure with one of the manor’s principal interior features.
Specialized and Defensive Features
Southern House and Alchemical Workshop
The southern section, one of the three adjoining houses, appears to have been an alchemical workshop. Such a workshop was associated with historical experiments involving the transformation and properties of substances. This interpretation gives the southern part of the complex a distinct place within the manor’s architectural history.
Hexagonal Tower
A hexagonal tower rises on the western side of the complex. It was formerly covered by a pointed roof and remains one of the clearly defined external elements of the manor.
Nearby sites
