Hôtel Deurbroucq, Neoclassical private mansion in Nantes, France
Hôtel Deurbroucq is an 18th-century mansion with neoclassical design elements situated along the quay in Nantes. Its long facade showcases the balanced proportions and formal details typical of this architectural style.
Dominique Deurbroucq, a shipbroker and wealthy Nantes shipowner enriched in the mid-18th-century slave trade, commissioned the mansion in 1764 from architect Jean-Baptiste Ceineray; it was built in 1769 at a cost of 500,000 livres. In 1784 the estate was split into a grand and a small hôtel. Damaged in the bombing of Nantes on 16 September 1943, it was restored and inscribed as a monument historique on 6 August 1945.
The mansion reflects the prosperity that maritime trade brought to Nantes in the 1700s. Its placement along the water shows how central the river connection was to the lives of those who lived here.
The building now houses a court and is not open to visitors without official business. The best view of the facade can be enjoyed from across the quay or from the river side.
Gaston Godard, who bought the mansion in 1874, replaced the Deurbroucq coat of arms with his own monogram of two interlocking "G"s. The Deurbroucq family's fortune came largely from the slave trade, and Dominique Deurbroucq spent 500,000 livres on the house to display his wealth.
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