Avocaterie des pauvres, Historical house in Nîmes, France
The Avocaterie des pauvres is a house in Nîmes made from two medieval structures joined together, with a distinctive basket-handle arch at the ground level on Rue Fresque. The building stretches through the block, connecting to the neighboring streets of Rue de l'Étoile and Rue Louis Raoul.
The building was founded in 1484 as the home of a legal aid foundation that helped poor people navigate the courts. It served this purpose for nearly 4 centuries before its mission changed in the early 1900s.
The layout centers around a small interior courtyard that brings light deep into the building, creating the kind of practical design people needed in medieval city homes. Rooms and stairs wrap around this central space, showing how residents organized their daily lives within tight urban quarters.
The building sits at street level in downtown Nîmes, making it easy to spot from the sidewalk along Rue Fresque. The location on a main pedestrian route means you can view the exterior easily while walking through the city center.
The interior staircase spirals in an uncommon arrangement that conserves space in a way that feels almost puzzle-like when you walk through it. This clever design reveals how medieval builders squeezed maximum functionality into tight urban properties.
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