Franche Comte Front-Gabled Houses

This is a very particular and typical house style. In the Franche Comte region, these properties can be found foremost in the Doubs and Jura department. The roof is massive and these traditional properties are easily recognizable.

In French, front-gabled houses are called Maisons en Pignon. Depending on the area in the region, only the ground floor is made of stone, or both the ground floor and the first floor. The attic is always made of wood (a sort of vertical wood framing on walls) though. Windows are of small to medium dimensions but can be very numerous to benefit from the sunset and sun beams.

Front-Gabled house in Doubs. Half-timbering on gable.

The gable often faces the road but foremost faces the valley. The view is thus often outstanding and adds much to the value of the house. These Franche Comte properties, especially those made of wood found in rural areas, fit really well in the environment.

These traditional front-gabled houses can be farmhouses, in this case they are rural properties. Urban Franche-Comte front-gabled houses are often painted in sweet colours, all face the valley anyway.

Traditional Franche Comte House.

Some of them are at the crossroads of the plain and mountain influences, being partially half-timbered as can be observed on the picture above. They generally have red tiles.

Some of these traditional houses have balconies, some others have a wood frame on the gable, but all respect the typical style of the front-gabled house. Amongst them you can recognise the restored properties with their windows of much larger dimensions.