Hôtel de Samerey

Built by Simon Viard, tabellion (a kind of notary) in 1541, the Samerey mansion has a typical facade of the early French Renaissance. It has kept its original coatings, cleaned, fixed and restored five years ago

A study of the pigments has shown that originally all the window surrounds and cornices were plastered in red, which the restoration has sought to evoke more discreetly on the first floor windows

The facade has two quite different styles and the triple window on the first floor on the right probably corresponded to the ceremonial room of a house, the remains of which can be found in the second courtyard at the rear of the hotel

Two of the cartouches on the façade bear a motto that can be interpreted in various ways: 'A suffisance' 'Lors suffira'.

Edme Lamy de Samerey, prosecutor at the Chambre des Comptes, bought the hotel in 1700 and undertook several improvements, including the construction of the pavilion along the street, forming a wing in return, which houses a staircase allowing a more noble access to the floors, and probably a modification of the roof to create a brisis

The building perpendicular to the main building at the end of the main courtyard dates from this period. It was used as a stable but was topped by a hayloft, which masked the triple window carved with acanthus leaves and lion heads on the first floor. The restoration has made it possible, by moving back the façade of the first floor, to bring this triple window back into view and to restore it.

Sold as a national asset during the Revolution, the hotel was occupied in the 19th century by a vinegar merchant and then by wine merchants using the vast cellars located under the building and the current back courtyard, which at the time was a covered shed

Classified as a historical monument in 1946 and acquired by the City of Dijon in 1947, the hotel was partly occupied by the offices of the Conservation des Bâtiments de France until the mid-1970s, when it was sold to private individuals in 1975, who undertook to restore and enhance it by landscaping the garden.