Beaucaire, Languedoc-Roussillon 30300

In Occitanie, in the historic centre of Beaucaire, A former tanner's house in need of complete renovation. Unlike many towns in Provence and Languedoc, Beaucaire's historic centre is not organised around an irregular street plan but on axes that intersect at right angles. The proximity of the fairground, established along the Rhône and the setting of the Foire de la Madeleine - which guaranteed the town's prosperity for many centuries - drew trade to streets lined with shops and dwellings alike. It is in one such street in the historic quarter, immediately surrounded by at least four listed monuments, that the former tanner's house stands. Positioned at the junction of three streets facing south, west and east, the building still reads as two distinct parts. The taller of the two rises three levels above ground floor: originally residential, it also housed a hide-drying loft in the upper storey and is recorded in the town's cadastre as dating from 1680. The lower part was added following a later acquisition during the Directoire period. Rising two levels above a ground-floor shop, it retains on its corner façade a 1970s cladding installed to increase its commercial visibility. The gabled roofs, covered in barrel tiles, display the traditional characteristics of Languedoc construction. The façades, built in large regular blocks of dressed stone from the Beaucaire quarries, have retained their original appearance and unify the two parts with relative coherence. Most of the windows date from the 18th century and draw considerable natural light from the opening created by the junction of the three streets. The double-thickness Provençal shutters, studded with turned visible nails and painted grey-blue, reinforce the aesthetic consistency of the façades. Their louvred slats - open here and there onto the adjacent streets - once allowed the comings and goings of customers to be discreetly observed.