Architectural Antiquities of Normandy — John Shaqi
Architectural Antiquities of NormandyTurner, Dawson
History
Architectural Antiquities of Normandy
Turner, Dawson
Architecture -- France -- Normandy; Architecture, Norman
The _Great House_ at Andelys, the subject of the plate, existed in 1818,
as it is here represented, shorn, indeed, of much of its ancient
splendor, reduced from the residence of a nobleman to a granary, and
most probably curtailed of full two-thirds of its size, as retaining
apparently little more than that portion of the square which fronted the
court-yard, together with a small part of one of its wings. It can now
(in 1821) only be spoken of as a building that did exist: last year saw
it levelled with the ground. The following description of it is
transcribed from Mr. Turner's _Tour in Normandy_:[19] "Andelys possesses
a valuable specimen of ancient domestic architecture. The _Great House_
is a most sumptuous mansion, evidently of the age of Francis I.; but I
could gain no account of its former occupants or history. I must again
borrow from my friend's vocabulary, and say, that it is built in the
'Burgundian style.' In its general outline and character, it resembles
the house in the _Place de la Pucelle_, at Rouen. Its walls, indeed, are
not covered with the same profusion of sculpture: yet, perhaps, its
simplicity is accompanied by greater elegance.--The windows are disposed
in three divisions, formed by slender buttresses, which run up to the
roof. They are square-headed, and divided by a mullion and transom.--The
portal is in the centre: it is formed by a Tudor arch, enriched with
deep mouldings, and surmounted by a lofty ogee, ending with a crocketed
pinnacle, which transfixes the cornice immediately above, as well as in
the sill of the window, and then unites with the mullion of the
latter.--The roof takes a very high pitch.--A figured cornice, upon
which it rests, is boldly sculptured with foliage.--The chimneys are
ornamented by angular buttresses.--All these portions of the building
assimilate more or less to our Gothic architecture of the sixteenth
century; but a most magnificent oriel window, which fills the whole of
the space between the centre and the left-hand divisions, is a specimen
of pointed architecture in its best and purest style. The arches are
lofty and acute. Each angle is formed by a double buttress, and the
tabernacles affixed to these are filled with statues. The basement of
the oriel, which projects from the flat wall of the house, after the
fashion of a bartizan, is divided into compartments, studded with
medallions, and intermixed with tracery of great variety and beauty. On
either side of the bay, there are flying buttresses of elaborate
sculpture, spreading along the wall.--As, comparatively speaking, good
models of ancient domestic architecture are very rare, I would
particularly recommend this at Andelys to the notice of every architect,
whom chance may conduct to Normandy.--This building, like too many
others of the same class in our own counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, is
degraded from its station. The _great house_ is used merely as a
granary, though, by a very small expense, it might be put into habitable
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