Le manoir My Cot

My Cot is the name of the building constructed in 1888 by Hippolyte Ecomard, from a middle-class Sainte-Pazane family.

The Ecomard family

Located at the end of the former fairground (now Avenue du Général de Gaulle), the My Cot manor house was originally a charming town house.
The Ecomard family, originally from the commune, was to have a very important economic base in Sainte-Pazanne.
One of the most important members of the family, Jean-Baptiste (1758-1826), was a baker, innkeeper and grain merchant during the French Revolution. When he died, he left 8 children.
The eldest, Charles-Marie Ecomard, along with three of his sons, Victor, Théodore and Hippolyte, formed a major trading company in 1830: the first "Ecomard frères".

This family of merchants created the first agricultural cooperative, harvesting wheat throughout the Pays de Retz and selling it in Paris, then to the colonies.
Their fortune was established mainly around the time of the Second Empire.
Their members also played an important role in the public life of Pazennais. They left a legacy of property, including the My Cot house built for Hippolyte Ecomard.


Sale of the My Cot property to "La Nantaise

The beginning of the 20th century saw the arrival of electricity in the commune with the creation of an electricity plant in 1910.
In 1920, the Compagnie départementale d'énergie électrique sold its concession to Société nantaise d'éclairage (SNE), more commonly known as "La Nantaise". In 1924, the company bought the My Cot property to house its offices on the ground floor and the centre manager upstairs.
It was here that eight people managed thirteen communes.

All the rooms were used:


the shop is in the cellar of My Cot
cellar and the archives in the greenhouse.




Architectural and functional developments at My Cot

Soon, the beautiful building was no longer sufficient.
The offices were partly transferred to a building on the edge of chemin du Vigneau.

And to meet the growing needs of rural electrification, a building was constructed in 1932 at the back of the property, to be used as a garage and shop. On the first floor, there were living quarters for a duty officer.

Another building became necessary as the number of employees grew to 29.
In 1939, the disused greenhouse was replaced by a wing adjoining My Cot, which housed the offices. This situation lasted for around twenty years.
Later, the district and subdivision offices moved to the premises on rue de la Nantaise.

In 1987, the large subdivision building was completed. My Cot is now empty.
In 1996, the municipality bought the building and turned it into a social centre (occupational medicine, care centre, home care service and Red Cross cloakroom).
Following redevelopment work, the premises were modernised and, with the addition of two new doctors, a fully-fledged health centre was created.

Source: The Sainte-Pazanne Historical Society