Maison de la Lieutenance, half-timbered house in Cognac, France

The Maison de la Lieutenance, also called Maison Lestrade, stands at Rue Grande No. 7 in Cognac. Its ground floor is built of large cut stone blocks, while two half-timbered upper floors overhang the street; the lower timber level has dark beams framing pale diamond-patterned panels, and the upper level has greyish infill with diagonal and vertical beams. A steep pitched roof with reddish tiles tops the building, and a wide arched window opens onto the ground floor.

The house was rebuilt at the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century and is named after Pierre de Lacombe, lieutenant-general of Cognac, who lived there from 1603 to 1624. In 1865 the building was moved a few metres from its original site. It was listed as a monument historique on 23 October 1933.

The house is also called Maison Lestrade. Its name comes from Pierre de Lacombe, lieutenant-general of Cognac, who lived here from 1603 to 1624, when Cognac was a secondary sénéchaussée of Angoulême. Between the wars the building was a sales point for Prunier cognacs, and the Prunier company bought it in 1970.

The house is located on Rue Grande in central Cognac and is easy to reach on foot, although it is privately owned and cannot be entered. Visitors can view the facade from the street to observe the carved wooden details and historic stonework.

The house was moved a few metres from its original position in 1865, the same year the neighbouring fountain was shifted. Its ground floor now houses a bookbinding workshop, which works behind the round-arched window opened in the gable side during a 20th-century alteration.