User:Ajoly2515/Hôtel du Haubergier

The Hôtel du Haubergier is a private mansion in the protected sector of Senlis (Oise), inside the medieval walls. Built in the early 16th century on a cellar dating from the 12th century, it housed the Archaeology Museum between 1927 and 1982, and became a private residence again in 1983. The house is on the corner of Rue Sainte-Geneviève and Rue du Haubergier.

History
The Hôtel du Haubergier takes its name from the rue du Haubergier, a small secondary axis of which it is the most remarkable building. Although the main façade of the house faces the rue Sainte-Geneviève, the entrance is in the rear courtyard, accessible from the rue du Haubergier. However, as Marc Durand and Philippe Bonnet-Laborderie state, the name "Hôtel du Haubergier" does not go back further than the 19th century. Indeed, Eugène Müller did not use it until 1879. On the other hand, the street seems to have always borne its current name: vicum Haubergière (1238), vico Haubergier (1285), rue Haubergière (1393). But there are also variants such as rue aux Bergères (1676), rue du Haut-Berger, etc. The etymology of the name is not in doubt, a haubergier being a craftsman who made hauberts (chain mail). This hypothesis remains uncertain, and there is nothing to indicate that haubergers lived in the street.

The history of the building remains unknown. The only certainty is, according to Marc Durand and Philippe Bonnet-Laborderie, that the Hotel has always been used as a residence by the citizens of Senlis, and that it has never belonged to a religious establishment, as it was the case with many other private mansions in the town. The first known owner was Regnault de Bonvilliers, Provost of Senlis. A charter of 1522 mentions a house of the churchwardens of the parish of Saint-Aignan which had belonged to the lord of Chantilly, and which had previously been part of the de Garlande fief. The de Garlande family owned several seigneuries in the Île-de-France, including Gonesse and Livry-Gargan, and had important possessions in Senlis. It had founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Senlis in the 11th century, which was called the Hôtel-Dieu de Garlande for a long time. In any case, the terms of the charter do not allow us to locate the house in question exactly.

The Museum of the Archaeological Committee, renamed the Senlis Society of History and Archaeology in 1920, had to leave the former bishop's palace after the prefect gave it the all clear in 1926. It had to make way for the tribunal d'instance, which had been installed in 1914, following the fire in the former Hôpital de la Charité, and had already tried in vain to evict the museum in 1917. This was a major blow for the Society, which had to make a major financial effort to ensure the museum's survival. In July of the same year, the Society signed the lease for the Hôtel du Haubergier, for a period of eighteen years, at a price of five thousand francs per year. The move and installation took less than a year. The solemn inauguration of the new regional museum took place on 16 June 1927 in the presence of numerous personalities, including the Minister of Public Instruction and Paul Vitry, one of the curators of the Louvre Museum. The museum is organized as follows:


 * The Lapidarium (stone and sculpture collection) in the courtyard
 * Architectural remains in the vaulted cellar
 * The library on the ground floor
 * Eleven display cases with the most valuable objects on the 1st floor (ceramics, ironwork, pottery, seals, drawings by Watteau) as well as sculptures, paintings and engravings on the walls
 * Three rooms devoted to archaeology on the 2nd floor, including two rooms devoted to the Senlis Arena and the Gallo-Roman Temple in the Halatte forest respectively.

With the beginning of the German occupation in 1940, the museum's attendance dropped significantly, and the Senlis Society of History and Archaeology could hardly count on the income it had previously received from the entrance fees to the arena and the museum. At the same time, the landlord did not want to grant the Society the 50% rent reduction provided for by the legislation in force at the time, and relations between the two parties deteriorated to the point of an interminable legal procedure. Then the stair tower to the south of the building was damaged by a German shell in 1940, and the landlady refused to take on the reconstruction. The attic was no longer accessible, and the museum soon closed.

After the war, the Senlis Society of History and Archaeology quickly wished to reopen the museum at the Hôtel de l'Haubergier, but the dispute with the owner did not end until 1947, and the means were cruelly lacking. At first, the municipality agreed to pay the rent from 1949, but the museum remained closed. It bought the hotel in 1951. In a second phase, the Society gave up all its collections to the city in 1952, except for the library, demanding in return only the provision of a room for the latter and a room for monthly meetings. Only now did the city begin to restore the old hotel to its original appearance, and the museum remained closed for the next four years. The presentation was reorganised according to the techniques of modern museology. After its partial reopening in 1955 (cellar and ground floor), the municipality had two museums: the Vénerie Museum in the Charité and the Museum of Art and Archaeology in the Hôtel du Haubergier. The first floor did not open until 1961, and the second floor in 1973, some thirty years after the closure.

The last restoration work began in 1986 with the West gable façade on the Haubergier street side. In 1987 the building was definitively classified as a Historic Monument under the direction of Mr Yves BOIRET, Chief Architect of Historic Monuments, Academician of Fine Arts. Work then began in 1994 on the north façade on rue Sainte Geneviève and in 1995 on the south façade on the garden side.

The rehabilitation of the garden with the development of the paved courtyard and the terrace was carried out by Mr Olivier DAMEE Landscape Architect in 2000.

Description
The Hôtel du Haubergier was built on top of older vaulted cellars, as is the case with most of the houses in Senlis town centre. These cellars generally have two levels. In the Hôtel du Haubergier, the first level is covered by a semi-circular vault of several bays separated by double arches dating from12th century. The second level, which is much deeper, is dug into the rock five metres below the first cellar and is called the extraction cellar. It is reached by a narrow straight staircase leading from the upper cellar. This was in fact a small domestic underground quarry from which some of the stones for the construction of the house were extracted. In the Hôtel du Haubergier, this small quarry extends slightly beyond the building's footprint, under the courtyard and under Rue Sainte-Geneviève and Rue du Haubergier.

The house has three floors, including the ground floor, as well as converted attic space, lit by several dormer windows. It is a respectable middle-class residence of careful construction in stone and brick. The corner quoins and the central quoin of the western gable wall are made of ashlar, and the stones framing the first and second floor windows are decorated with prismatic mouldings. On the second floor, the windows are smaller than on the first floor. The larger windows on the first floor and the ground floor on the courtyard side have stone mullions. The ground floor, on the other hand, has a more rustic façade on the rue Sainte-Geneviève side, with partially wooden lintels and no sculpted decoration. On Rue Sainte-Geneviève and Rue du Haubergier, the walls are of rubble stone on the ground floor, and of brick beyond. On the rear courtyard, the walls are entirely of ashlar.

The octagonal stair turret is located in the centre of the façade, with a spiral staircase inside. This tower was restored and partially rebuilt in 1952/55 following war damage. The portal is built directly into the tower. It has a basket handle and is surmounted by a bracketed arch decorated with pampers (a branch of vine with its leaves and bunches), which was restored in 1996.

Above it, a stone statue of the Virgin and Child seems to protect the house. The base bears the coat of arms of the Lords of Ognon de la Fontaine. This statue was decapitated during the French Revolution, since June 1997 you can admire a restitution from a cast of the original made by Mrs Geneviève BOURDET.

Another statue of the Virgin Mary adorns the northwest corner of the house. It is considerably smaller and is mounted on a fluted column with a capital, which is very damaged and protected by a canopy that was restored in 2002. The small chimeras at the corners of the eaves underline the limits between the floors, as well as the gargoyles at the height of the eaves, still refer to the Gothic period. There is an old well in the courtyard, at the corner between the house and the wall separating it from the courtyard of the neighbouring house, which was restored in 1998. The blocked archway above the well is a reminder that it was once shared by the two neighbouring houses, as can still often be seen in Senlis.

Protection
The Hôtel du Haubergier was registered as a full-fledged Historic Monument by order of 23 June 1933, when it housed the museum of the Senlis Historical and Archaeological Society. Then, the registration was transformed into a Historic Monument classification for the facades and roofs by order of 22 September 1987, when the building had once again become a private residence.

Notes and references
1. See Eugène Müller, "Essai d'une monographie des rues, places et monuments de Senlis : 2de partie", Comité Archéologique de Senlis, Comptes-rendus et Mémoires, Senlis, Imprimerie de Ernest Payen, 2e série, vol. V, 1879, p. 249-440 (read online); p. 412-413. 2. See Marc Durand and Philippe Bonnet-Laborderie, Senlis et son patrimoine : La ville en ses forêts, Beauvais, GEMOB, 2004 (revised, corrected and expanded edition), 170 p. (ISSN 1255-0078); p. 104.

3. Cf. Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Senlis, Comptes-rendus et mémoires, années 1927-28, Senlis 1929, p. LXIII and XXXV.

4. Cf. Claude Finon, "Histoire des musées de Senlis", Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Senlis, Comptes-rendus et mémoires, Senlis, 2000-2001, pp. 89-113; pp. 92-93.

5. Cf. Claude Finon, Histoire des musées de Senlis, op. cit, pp. 93-95.

6. Record no. PA00114896, Mérimée database, French Ministry of Culture


 * Musée d'art et d'archéologie de Senlis
 * Histoire de Senlis
 * Liste des monuments historiques de Senlis
 * Patrimoine architectural non classé de Senlis