House of Jacques Coeur at Bourges

H. W. Brewer, artist

H. Pitt, engraver

c. 1880

Signed with initials lower right and left

Source: Stevenson’s House Architecture, I, 154

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It was not from any necessities of climate or construction that the roofs were made steep pitched, but to harmonise with the tendency to height and upward growth which was characteristic of the rest of Gothic architecture. When in English Gothic the horizontal cornice became predominant, and the arches became flattened, the roofs, as we shall see, became flattened in sympathy. In France the arches remained pointed, arid the roofs continued steep pitched. The tendency in the later French Gothic was rather to increase their height. These tall steep roofs became a feature of French architecture, and continued to characterise it when the Gothic styles had passed away, and had been superseded by the Classic. [continued below]

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Commentary by J. J. Stevenson

The house of Jacques Coeur, at Bourges, illustrates this. It was commenced in the middle of the fifteenth century (he purchased the site in 1443), and is one of the most splendid specimens which exist of Gothic domestic architecture. . . . Fig. 44 shows part of the front, comprising the main entrance, with the chapel over it, and the turret which contains the stair leading to the chapel, carried up into a tall stone roof like a spire. The chapel is vaulted and its window is pointed. The other windows throughout the building are square-headed. [I, 155]

Bibliography

Stevenson, J. J. House Architecture. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1880.

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Last modified 21 July 2017