Métropole

Rennes

Capital of Brittany

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Audioguided tours

These tours walk you through 8 emblematic places, allowing you to discover the heritage of the city in a simple, lively way and at your own pace.
Download audioguided tours on the website (free of charge) or rent an audio guide at the Tourist Office.

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Home // What to see // Rennes at your leisure // Timber-framed houses

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Timber-framed houses

This tradition is explained by the presence of forests around the city. As in the rest of the Duchy of Brittany, in Rennes, the mediaeval-style timber-framed houses continued to be built until the mid 17th century, much later than the actual Middle Ages themselves. The fire which broke out on 23 December 1720 destroyed over 900 houses and buildings in just one week. Nevertheless, there are still numerous timber-framed houses to be seen in the streets off the city centre. Work to restore the fronts of the houses and buildings over the past twenty years has highlighted the expertise reflected in the structures, façades, staircases and wainscoting.

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Chronology

1. Together with Dinan and Vannes, Rennes features the oldest examples of civil timber-framed architecture, which was characterised by a traditional corbelled structure from the 15th to the late 16th centuries.

Ty Anna tavarn - Place Sainte-Anne

2. Towards 1550, signs of the first Renaissance style could be glimpsed in the Gothic corbels with depictions of human profiles.

Consoles sculptées - n° 3, rue Saint-Georges

3. During this century, the corbels gradually made way for flat façades and a new repertoire of sculpted friezes, volutes, putti and foliage scrolls...

Poutres sculptées - n° 13, rue Saint-Michel

4. The flat façades of the 17th century replaced the carved corbels with pattern assemblies of chevrons, latticework and lozenges. From 1650 onwards, the horizontal lighting, formed by a series of openings, gave way to a set of vertical windows.

5. The final stage in timber-framing consisted of roughcast cladding, both as a fire prevention measure and to conceal poverty in the face of the emerging stone constructions.