A little history of Escoville townhouse
And also
The tops
The World War II damaged a lot our beautiful town house. The current one dates back to 1960... but it's still a nice Renaissance masterpiece!
Also known as "Big Horse's house" in the 19th century, a man called Nicolas Le Valois, equerry and lord of Escoville, raised it. He was very rich so he could put up gorgeous houses!
This house was located in the very heart of the city, on foundations of an old house owned by Jean de La Bigne.
The lord of Escoville bought this plot of land in order to raise his own house in 1533. The building in front of us and the left wing were finished in 1535.
Building work ended with the main building construction in 1537, which overlooked Saint-Pierre square.
But Nicolas Le Valois died of an apoplexy crisis in 1541, leaving huge sum of money and several houses. One of his son, Louis Le Valois, owned the house in 1542; then, Guillaume Moisant, a rich gentleman, bought it in 1603.
City of Caen rented the house many times for official parties at the end of the 16th century. Then the ground floor was transformed into stores...