Champ Jacquet Houses

It’s crazy how a flaw can bring such charm! You have to admit that this place wouldn’t be the same if the facades were straight and aligned! No one would be interested in the Tower of Pisa if it weren’t leaning! It is the same here, the Champs Jacquet houses seem alive, and we love that! Do not worryThere is no risk of them falling, ! They lean strongly on the old rampart. Their shape comes from the fact that they were built without a proper stone structure. When the apartments were rearranged, and the partitions destroyed, the structure moved. However, it was when the “rue Leperdit” was pierced through that things got worse. It makes for good photos at least! If you observe the square, you will see that it’s been strongly impacted by the Great Fire of 1720, which swept over half the houses. It offers a square with two eras, wood sections on one side, and stone houses on the other. In the middle of the square, it is Jean Leperdit, that stands proudly on his pedestal. He was a master stone cutter, and became Mayor of Rennes in the 1790s, in the heart of a tormented France.This committed revolutionary, a member of the surveillance committee and therefore responsible for drawing up the list of enemies of the Republic, will nonetheless also play a role as a moderator. He cares about the fate of the prisoners and will do his best to ensure that the bloody period known as the Terror is more restrained in his city than in the rest of France, paralyzed by fear. Upon his death in 1823, he refused to be sacralized by the Church, thus giving rise tohis legend. A statue representing him was built a few years later on this emblematic square, in memory of a man that represented a just and moderate Republic during the 19th century. The street opening up in front of you is named in his honor, and that’s the one we will follow!