Maison Henri Martin, Surrealist house in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, France

Maison Henri Martin, also called Auberge des Mariniers, is the oldest building in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. Its walls are entirely of rough rubble stone, with dressed stone around the doors and windows. A square dovecote tower rises above the roof at the south-east corner, and two upper floors sit over the ground floor. The facade facing the place du Carrol was probably reworked in the 18th century.

The house dates from the 14th century, with its tower built in the 12th and the main body begun in the 13th and finished in the 14th; the facade on the place du Carrol was probably reworked in the 18th century. The post-impressionist painter Henri Martin, born in Toulouse in 1880, owned it from 1911 until his death in 1943. André Breton bought it in 1951 and returned every summer until 1966.

The house is also called "Auberge des Mariniers", a reminder of its past as an inn for boatmen who came up from the Lot. From 1951 André Breton and his wife Elisa spent every summer here, receiving Benjamin Péret, Max Ernst, Toyen, Man Ray and Ted Joans. In this collective setting the artists produced reviews and publications and organised the international exhibitions EROS (1959) and Écart absolu (1965).

The house stands on the slope of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie above the Lot, roughly 100 m below the village, and the streets are pedestrian. The facade seen from the place du Carrol was probably reworked in the 18th century; the square dovecote tower rises at the south-east corner of the roof.

The square dovecote tower above the roof was built in the 12th century, earlier than the rest of the house, whose main body was begun in the 13th and finished in the 14th century. The facade facing place du Carrol was probably reworked in the 18th century.