Hôtel de Gournay, a historic building in central Metz

The Gournays, a leading family of Metz's patriciate

The mansion's name recalls the Gournays, one of the most powerful patrician families in medieval Metz. Linked to the paraiges, the lineages that dominated the city's government, they included the maître-échevin Michel de Gournay, an adviser to Duke Antoine of Lorraine. According to the tourist office, the house on Rue du Grand-Cerf belonged to them before passing to the Lasalle family. The sources consulted do not date this handover, and the house's detailed history is thinly documented online. It is better to keep to these landmarks than to imagine a more precise story.

A doorway and two wrought-iron stair rails

The Mérimée database places the building campaigns in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, although Wikipedia mentions only the 18th. The protection, registered by order of 9 December 1929, does not cover the whole building: it applies to the entrance door and two wrought-iron stair rails. From the street, passers-by mainly enjoy the doorway and façade, as the protected ironwork belongs to the staircases, out of sight. Allow for a short stop to look at the entrance rather than a visit.

From General Lasalle to a home for seniors

Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle, later one of Napoleon's cavalry generals, was born here in 1775 and killed at Wagram in 1809. Much later, Mademoiselle de Coëtlosquet ceded the house to the French army, which opened a hostel for young soldiers. According to Wikipedia, a seniors' care association has occupied it since 1970, taken over in 2015 by the DocteGestio group after receivership. This use may have changed, and we could not confirm it with an official source. If you pass by, go by the signs at the entrance and respect the quiet of a place not designed for visitors.

Not to be confused with the Hôtel de Burtaigne

The Gournays left their name on two Metz addresses, and it is easy to mix them up. The Hôtel de Gournay stands at 9 Rue du Grand-Cerf; the Hôtel de Burtaigne, also called Gournay-Burtaigne, is on Place des Charrons and has its own heritage record. On Rue du Grand-Cerf, an enclosed park runs behind the house as far as the church of Saint-Martin, according to Wikipedia, and a chapel since destroyed once stood in it. Nothing suggests it is open to the public. To place it, walk round by Saint-Martin church, then head on foot to Place des Charrons to compare the two houses tied to this family.

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