page_title: Hôtel d'Alluye
section_title: Façades, entrances and courtyard
hierarchical_section_title: Hôtel d'Alluye / Façades, entrances and courtyard
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Gravure de l'hôtel d'Alluye réalisée par M. R. de Saint-Vincent (réalisée avant 1867) et tirée de l'ouvrage de Louis de La Saussaye, "Blois et ses environs: Guide historique et artistique dans le Blésois et le Nord de la Touraine", Aubry, 1867, p. 78
context_page_description: The Hôtel d'Alluye is a hôtel particulier in Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France. Built for Florimond Robertet when he was secretary and notary to Louis XII, the residence bears the name of his barony of Alluyes. On Rue Saint-Honoré near Blois Cathedral and the Château de Blois, it is now significantly smaller than it was originally as the north and west wings were destroyed between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.
  Built between 1498 and 1508, the hôtel particulier is one of the first examples of Renaissance architecture in Blois. Its façades consist of Gothic, French Renaissance and Italian Renaissance architecture. The Hôtel d'Alluye was owned by the Robertet family from 1508 until 1606 before undergoing frequent changes in ownership; since 2007, it has been divided into ten apartments and a large office.
  As a result of its ownership changes the building has been considerably altered, with only the east and south wings retaining their original appearance. Destruction of the west wing began during the seventeenth century, and the north wing was destroyed in 1812.
context_section_description: The hotel's exterior façade was inspired by the Louis XII wing of the Château de Blois. Since its construction, dormers have been added and the window design has changed. The original façade can be seen in the decoration of some ground-floor windows and the portal, and the walls, windows and corbels of this hôtel particulier are in the Gothic style.
  More modern than the exterior façades and contrary to French architectural tradition, the interior façades embrace the Italian Renaissance style. The hotel's galleries had two levels of "basket-handle" arches, columns on the first floor and rectangular pillars. Italian influence on the buildings appears in the moldings and carvings on its doors and pillars—for example, facing birds.
  Thirteen antique terracotta medallions adorn the balustrade of the gallery's first floor, representing Roman emperors and influenced by Italian architecture. Surrounded by a thick garland of fruits and flowers, these medallions were originally painted green to suggest bronze and distinguish the façade. The building's perforated railings are inspired by the François I wing of the Château de Blois. The windows were probably added during the late-nineteenth-century restoration. Dismantled in 1812, the northern galleries were originally supported by two sets of six white marble columns (rarely found in sixteenth-century buildings).
  The hôtel d'Alluye originally had three entrances linking it to shopping areas. The original main entrance, on the south side of the hotel, has been preserved. The hotel was accessible from the west by a path from Rue Porte-Chartraine; that entrance was bricked up in 1606. A third, seventeenth-century entrance linked the north side of the hotel to Rue Beauvoir.
  The inner courtyard was originally decorated with a bronze copy of Donatello's David, which was inspired by Michelangelo. Placed in 1509, the statue was given to Robertet by the Florentine Republic. As early as 1513, it was moved to his Château de Bury.
caption: Print of the hôtel d'Alluye by M. R. de Saint-Vincent (before 1867)
exif: {}