Misleading Building, Lezay (79).

[Helene Anderson]

Out and about yesterday, was actually looking for some inspiration for a comp (though not a fan of comps).
I ended up in a small town in the Deux Sèvres, Lezay. Not too far from me so had been to it before, not too often. I saw a building I had never really noticed before, perhaps because during the week there are cars parked in front of it and it becomes invisible.

I thought, from the style it was a protestant temple, certainly it looked like any other temple I had seen. I went inside and to my surprise found catholic literature. It was in fact a church.

Rebuilt in 1828 I have found, why I do not know.

So, being curious I thought if the church looks like a temple, what does the temple look like? I duly followed the sign to only perhaps three or four hundred metres a way and found the temple.

It looked like a temple. I tried to go in the temple but the door was very big and heavy and I could only open it a few centimeters, then I had a job to close it!

I had hoped I might be able to put here a bit more information about the buildings as the story behind the photo is, to me at least, important. Alas, another case where something has caught my eye but there is no information or history to go with what I have seen.

 

[Jerome Marot]

A quick google search finds this, this, this and this. Apparently, this is the book to buy.

 

[Helene Anderson]

Thanks for that info, I couldn't find anything.
So, for the temple;

The first building was designed by an architect called Nigot (1820)
with refinements by a chap called Thenday, an architect of the departement who designed a second temple but there were difficulties in raisng the funds for the contstruction.
In 1826 Pierre-Théophile Segretain (1798-1864) suggested another project to the Prefet. This project was given to Jean Baptiste Esserteau, a builder from Niort in 1827. In 1828 there was a difference of opinion with the inspector of works Lantier de Verrières and it is Pierre Ducoin, a carpenter from Niort who was responsible for completing the work. Consolidation works of the frame were carried out in 1889 by François Cartois, builder from Couhé on a design by architect Mongeaud; the sacristy was rebuilt by Andrew Fouche, builder from la Mothe-Saint-Héray, from a designby the architect Martineau.

For the church I found;

History: The central part of the presbytery, characterized by the remains of an arched door surmounted by an oculus, may date from the 17th century. In 1846, former stake in the east has been converted into living room and raised up on a quote by architect Antoine Bizard Mellois. In 1860, expansion work to the west (the stake, shed, room upstairs) and recovery of the east elevation have been executed under the direction of the architect François-Victor Vallet Niort.