Périgueux, Aquitaine 24000

A 16th-century, 4-storey private mansion, listed as a Historical Monument and located within the historical centre of Prigueux in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The private mansion displays an elegant faade - cross-windows and pilasters with capitals - from the first French Renaissance, based on the models in Blois and Chambord (1520). Built over a former medieval residence, the building was edified atop a basement level and has a ground floor with shops facing the street, three inhabitable floors, including one built into the attic space, and a soaring slate roof punctuated by ornate gabled dormer windows. The carriage entrance opens onto a small interior courtyard protected on one side by a vertiginous gable end, its slopes decorated with crockets in the shape of Savoy cabbages. The courtyard was altered in the 17th century when a cooper's shop was created to one side. Illuminated by a window under a drop arch, its keystone is sculpted with a mascaron, while the door's tympanum is carved with a salamander, a symbol of King Franois I. In the middle of the building, a second interior courtyard provides natural light to all the floors, which are accessible via a wide spiral staircase.The monumental fireplace in the grand hall on the first floor celebrates the Renaissance in all its glory, while the building's entire structure and roofs are in good condition.