the essential
Throughout history, the town of Pamiers has seen its heritage evolve and grow to today offer a playground for enthusiasts.
Pamiers is distinguished by its history and its rich architectural heritage. In addition to the monuments known to all, such as the Camp church, the Saint-Antonin cathedral or the Cordeliers tower, which gives the city its nickname of the city of three bell towers, there are also the very old residences which have knew how to cross the centuries.
Little-known origins
It is notably on rue Gabriel-Péri that we find the house where the most famous Appamean, Gabriel Fauré, was born. Not far from there, at 29, we also find the house of Morlière Barthélémy Hyppolite, the town’s notary, who participated in the creation of the Pamiers factory, which today became Aubert & Duval. A few steps away, we discover the Trouche-Wermelinger jewelry store, established on this location since 1849. The facade, with its particular architectural style, makes it a treasure for the city and catches the eye with its moldings and the busts which adorn it. adorn.
“When I was a child, my mother told me about the history of the building,” explains Marie-Hélène Wermelinger, manager of the jewelry store. “From what I remember, the house had belonged to an army colonel. It was he who had this facade made in the Venetian style. My family set up as a jeweler a few years later, in 1849 It’s a very beautiful facade. During visits to the city center organized by the tourist office to discover the heritage of Pamiers, people stop.
The inventory of Occitanie heritage reveals that in 1828, the Napoleonic land register designated this plot forming an L and presenting a facade on rue Gabriel-Péri as well as on rue du Camp. The section statements name it as a “house” and also specify that it belongs to a “notary”.
According to Alexandra Guégen’s research, the facade of the building presents a mixture of stylistic repertoires, namely neoclassical characters (antique vocabulary, geometric pattern railings), but also neo-renaissance (little winged angels), neo -18th century (balcony with volutes) and neo-Gothic (balcony with ogival motifs).
“A lion’s mouth open on the windows”
In addition to the frieze carved with an interlacing of plant motifs with flowers and laurel leaves, which separates the first from the second floor, “it is possible to see between the windows, the busts of a woman and a man in high relief resting on consoles The windows of the second floor are surmounted by a high relief composed of plant interlacing with a central laurel wreath delimiting a medallion containing a lion with its mouth open on the windows on the right and left, an empty laurel wreath on the central one. A small rectangular cord serves as a separator.”
