# Hôtel de Bourrouilhan A historic residence in the Landes - **Place**: Saint-Sever - **Address**: 21 rue du Général Lamarque, 40500 Saint-Sever · Landes - **Period**: XVᵉ–XVIIIᵉ siècles - **Type**: Private mansion - **Protection**: Registered historic monument - **Mérimée record**: PA40000095 - **Coordinates**: 43.758, -0.5718 A private mansion set against the medieval rampart of Saint-Sever. Handed down in the family since the Middle Ages, it is now being restored. ## History - **Années 1450 — The second rampart** The jurats extend the town wall to take in the Guillerie district, crossed by the street of the same name — today's rue Lamarque — which led to the town gate towards Orthez and Pau. The defence tower belongs to this wall. - **Début XVIᵉ — A town house** The first main dwelling range rises from the ground: gabled façade, roof « à la guise de France », mullioned windows, spiral staircase. - **XVIᵉ siècle — A first extension** A second dwelling range is added, extended by a timber gallery leading to the wine store and the stables. - **10 mars 1743 — The south wing** The town council authorises a building “in and around the Guillerie tower”; the large segmental-arched windows are opened up. - **1779 — A name** “Bourrouilhan” appears in writing for the first time. That same year, the ditch running along the Capuchin convent, which had become the town hospital, is filled in. - **1801 — A house that stays put** The plans drawn up by the town architect Saillard show buildings almost identical to those standing today. - **2015 – 2018 — The awakening** Restoration begins in 2015. In 2018, the mansion, its courtyard and its garden are listed as Monuments Historiques. ## Figures - **Général Lamarque · 1770 – 1832 · Hero of the First Empire** Jean Maximilien Lamarque, an Imperial general born in Saint-Sever, distinguished himself in the Napoleonic campaigns before becoming a political figure of the liberal opposition under the Restoration. On his returns to Saint-Sever, he would stay at the hôtel de Bourrouilhan, with his first cousins. The street that runs alongside the building today bears his name. ## Places - **Roof framework · "The forest reborn"** The great roof space, weakened by a termite attack and broken beamwork, has undergone a complete restoration: the rafter-and-truss roof and the roofing "à la guise de France" have regained their original span. New timber mingles with the surviving old pieces, the forest, little by little, is reborn in the framework. - **Staircase · "The light returns"** Set within a projecting tower, the stone spiral staircase has served the upper floor and the attics since the early 16th century. Its stone treads, terracotta floors and rendering have been restored; the reopening of the tower once again lets light into the stairwell. It is the only staircase of its kind identified in Saint-Sever. - **Side wing · "Grandeur regained"** Set against the rampart, the second main dwelling range, extended by its timber gallery, links the mansion to the remains of the town wall. Floors, timber floors and terracotta paving have been restored to give these spaces, intended for visitors, their former spaciousness. Added in the 16th century — fragments of windows with prismatic mouldings, caught in the masonry, date it — it leads through its gallery to the wine store, the stables and a round tower pierced with gunports. - **Façades & stone dressing · "Out of shadow into light"** Mullioned windows, dressed-stone cross windows and the gable façade have been uncovered and restored in keeping with the evidence. The work of the stonemasons gives the facing stone back its original legibility: the building steps out of the shadows. The façade reads like a calendar: gable, roof "à la guise de France" and mullioned windows from the early 16th century, large segmental-arched windows opened up in the mid-18th. - **Defence tower · "The rampart still standing"** Raised around 1450, the tower belongs to the second rampart of Saint-Sever. In the garden, the south wall, markedly thicker than a house wall, keeps its line: you can still see the offset where it joined the town wall. ## Key facts - **1 000** old books lie sleeping in its library. - **25 — An estate of old** tenant farms and caveries once belonged to the residence. - **8e — A new rebirth** rebirth in its history: this is the one it is living through today. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why is there a defence tower in a house? The house was built against the second rampart of Saint-Sever, at the entrance to the town. The tower, raised around 1450, belongs to that wall: you can still make out the gunports through which cannon were fired. ### Where does the name “Bourrouilhan” come from? It first appears in writing in 1779. Over time, the mansion has borne the names of the families who lived there in turn, from the Bourrouilhans to the Détroyats. ### Why has the house changed so little? Because it has almost never changed hands. A house that passes from one owner to another follows each one's fashions and needs; this one has never been divided up, dismantled or heavily altered. ### How do you date such an old house? By cross-checking the family archives, surveys of the building (point cloud, photogrammetry, roof-frame assessment) and stylistic clues. No single source is enough; it is their agreement that establishes the date. ## Links - Full page: https://opusheritage.com/en/villes/saint-sever/hotel-de-bourrouilhan - Town: https://opusheritage.com/en/villes/saint-sever - Reference: https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/PA40000095 - Reference: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65747025 --- Source: OPUS Heritage, https://opusheritage.com/en/villes/saint-sever/hotel-de-bourrouilhan. Content published by the town of Saint-Sever.