Les manoirs du canton de Sablé (XVe-XVIe siècles)

Manors in the Sablé canton 15th and 16th centuries. A survey located 34 manors, built or considerably modified during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. These manors are practically always two-storey buildings whilst the local farm house of the same period have only a ground floor. The architectural appearance of the first floor is more elaborate than the ground floor, although apertures have frequently been altered. Each floor, in general, has two separate rooms, except for a few larger manors which have at least three rooms in buildings with an L plan or — in one case — a U plan. In the manors studied, the relations between the ground plan and the façade and between the different façades are very complex. One façade may have casement windows whilst another will have half casement windows ; furthermore, these may alternate so that one façade will be the mirror image of the other. Where the relations between plan and façade are concerned, the combination of a large and a small room will found expression in the façade with a window twice as large as another. Elsewhere, the façade may be lacking in symmetry and bearing little relation to the ground plan ; others still may have symmetrical façades but still with no relation to ground plan.Le Boeuf François. Les manoirs du canton de Sablé (XVe-XVIe siècles). In: Histoire de l'art, N°9-10, 1990. La maison, la ville. pp. 43-53