The (, ''

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

'') is a historic building in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...

, western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It stands on Rue de l'Hôtel de Ville.

History

During the 16th century the city council held its meetings in various buildings around the old part of Nantes, including "Maison des Engins", "Hôtel de la Prévôté", and "Maison Sainte-Catherine". After finding this arrangement inadequate and, following receipt of authorisation from Charles IX in 1566, the city council decided to acquired a dedicated building for use as their meeting place. The building they selected, which had originally formed part of the Dervallières Castle Estate, was known as the Manoir de Derval. The city council acquired the manor house on 27 March 1578. The building was modest; there were two rooms on the ground floor, two rooms on the first floor and an attic. In the early 17th century, the city council, under the leadership of the mayor, Claude de Cornulier, decided to remodel the building. It was rebuilt to a design by Hélie Rémigereau in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

in 1606. This programme of work established the main frontage of the building, on the north side, and the western wing. The main frontage of five bays was arcaded on the ground floor and fenestrated with tall

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a c ...

s with

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...

s on the first floor. There was a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

with ornate plasterwork between the floors, and the windows on the first floor were flanked by

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric or ...

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and a

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a Cornice (architecture), cornice which helps to support them. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally transl ...

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

. The western wing of four bays contained four doorways on the ground floor and four casement windows interspersed with niches on the first floor. The niches contained statues representing

faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, inc ...

hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...

and

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

. The wing was decorated with plasterwork in a similar style to the main frontage. A landscaped garden, designed by Jacques Goubert, was laid out behind the building in 1727. Further works on the courtyard were completed to a design by François-Jean-Baptiste Ogée in 1822. The western wing was extended by the addition of one extra niche, and a new eastern wing was erected to mirror the western wing. Towers with

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

-shaped

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

s were erected in the northeast and northwest corners of the courtyard. Internally, the principal room was the Salle des Fêtes (council chamber) on the first floor. The complex was extended to the north, beyond the landscaped garden, by the construction of Bâtiment Garde-Dieu to accommodate the municipal archives in 1901. It was extended to the northeast by acquiring and integrating the Hôtel de Rosmadec, which dated back to the 17th century, and to the east, adjacent to Rue de Strasbourg, by the acquisition of the Hôtel de Monti de Rezé, which dated back to the 17th century, in 1923. Following the liberation of the town by the

French Forces of the Interior The French Forces of the Interior (FFI; ) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as F ...

and American troops on 12 August 1944, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a member of

Libération-Nord ("Liberation-North") was one of the principal resistance movements in the northern occupied zone of France during the Second World War. It was one of the eight great networks making up the National Council of the Resistance. History Initial ...

, Gilbert Grangeat, took control of the town centre and ensured that the French

tricolour A triband is a vexillological style which consists of three stripes arranged to form a flag. These stripes may be two or three colours, and may be charged with an emblem in the middle stripe. Not all tribands are tricolour flags, which requires t ...

flag was hoisted on the town hall. A new annex was erected on Rue Garde-Dieu in 1957. A monumental portal at the entrance to the courtyard, which had been designed by Mathurin Peccot and completed in the early 19th century and which had been badly damaged during the Second World War, was replaced by a fine iron gate, designed by Raymond Subes, in 1962. A public-facing building was erected on Rue Garde-Dieu, to a design by Georges Evano, in 1979. Works of art in the building include a series of busts of former mayors, including one by the sculptor, Émile Guillaume, of Gabriel Guist'hau, in the Salle des Bustes (Hall of Busts).

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Nantes Buildings and structures completed in 1606 City and town halls in France 1606 establishments in France Government buildings completed in the 17th century