Hôtel d'Assézat, Private mansion on Place d'Assézat, Toulouse, France
The Hôtel d'Assézat is a 16th-century Renaissance mansion in Toulouse, built of red brick with pale stone ornament. Its L-shaped main wing and corner staircase tower enclose a cobbled courtyard. The courtyard facades have paired columns in three tiers—Doric, Ionic, Corinthian—and a ground-floor arcade with round arches. The tower rises into an open turret with columns and a small dome.
Pierre d'Assézat, a merchant who made his fortune from the woad trade, commissioned architect Nicolas Bachelier to build this residence in 1555. The mansion rose during Toulouse's golden age when textile merchants invested in grand urban homes to display their wealth.
The Académie des Jeux Floraux, described in the sources as the oldest literary society in Europe, has met in the building since Théodore Ozenne left it to the city in 1894 for learned societies. The Bemberg Foundation, a major art gallery, shows paintings from the 15th to the early 20th century. The courtyard's passage arches carry diamond-shaped stone and consoles carved with grotesque masks, each different.
You can explore the inner courtyard without charge and observe how the architecture is arranged around the central space. Information panels throughout the courtyard explain the classical architectural elements and help you understand the building's design.
On the first-floor landing of the staircase, a male term supports the console above him: half man, half pilaster, his face grimaces and his hands press a cushion onto his head to ease the load. The motif alludes to Atlas and Hercules, and the soft cushion set against straining muscles is a Mannerist joke. Similar terms appear on the windows of the Hôtel du Vieux-Raisin.
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