1778 - The mansion, between courtyard and garden
Pierre de Raymond de Lalande (1727–1787) is a knight, marquis of Castelmoron and advisor to the king in the Parliament of Bordeaux. Owner with his wife of a sugar factory and a coffee plantation in Santo Domingo, he draws part of his fortune from the colonial trade. In 1778, he started the construction of a mansion at 39 rue Bouffard, in the Saint-Seurin district, then in full expansion. The hotel is located between the courtyard and the garden. The courtyard, in a closed hemicycle, overlooks Bouffard street. It is accessed through a carriage door with two leaves, in the center of a half-moon recess that facilitated the maneuvering of horse carriages. In the courtyard, a factitious wall faces, symmetrically, that of the common wing, reserved for services and domesticity. To the west, the garden enclosed by high walls is planted with trees and shrubs whose implantation takes the shape of the entrance courtyard. It is accessible by a flight of stairs located at the level of the French windows of the large living room.
The building has a three-storey facade crowned by a high roof "à la française", with two sides and slate spurs. It rests on vaulted cellars, suitable for the conservation of wine, and ventilated, protecting the building from humidity. The homogeneous and sober decoration of the facades, in the taste "à la grecque", inscribes this construction in the neoclassical style of the reign of Louis XVI (1774–1791). The architect, however, revives the classic silhouettes of 17th-century constructions: symmetry of the facades, high roof, regular ordering of openings and rectangular main building, double in depth. The absence of a commemorative plaque or archives concerning the construction brings no certainty about the name of the architect. According to the Bordeaux Historical Description, published in 1785, the building was built under the directives of Etienne Laclotte (c. 1734–1812). If this is the case, the architect has significantly modified his style compared to his previous works.
The geometric facades and the stone, bare and smooth, evoke more the style of François Lhote (1743– 1808), author of the mansion of Joseph de Basquiat de Mugriet, advisor to the Parliament of Bordeaux, built at the same time as the mansion. Another hypothesis lies in the collaboration between these two architects. Laclotte, engaged in several projects due to its popularity, could have called on the services of Lhote for the construction of the mansion.
