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 municipal building in

Carcassonne Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department. ...

Aude Aude ( ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it " ...

, in southern France, standing on Rue Aimé Ramond. It was designated a ''

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

'' by the French government in 1923.

History

Carcassonne immeuble Art Deco de la police municipale

The first town hall, which was at No. 50 Rue Barbès, dated from the 13th century. After the first town hall was burnt down in September 1434, the consuls moved to the second town hall, known as the Maison Consulaire, which was on the corner of Rue des Orfèvres (now Rue Courtejaire) and Rue de la Pélisserie (now Rue Aimé Ramond). It was laid out around a courtyard with a forestair on the left, a main frontage at the back of the courtyard, and an arcade on the right. The main frontage featured three openings on the ground floor, a round headed window on the first floor and a pediment above. A small bell tower was added in March 1661, and a sculpture of figure known as "La jeune captive" was created by Pierre Hébert and installed in an alcove under the forestair in 1859. By the 1930s, the second town hall was too small and the council led by the mayor, Albert Tomey, decided to demolish it and to erect a new building, the third town hall, on the same site. The new building was designed by the municipal architect, Jean Blanchard, in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style, built by a local contractor, Noël Cazanave, in stone and was officially opened on 1 July 1936. It featured a square headed opening on the ground floor, a French door and a

balcony A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

on the first floor, and prominent square-shaped clock tower above, on the corner of Rue Courtejaire and Rue Aimé Ramond. After passing through the opening, and the concierge's office on the left, a marble staircase provided access to the Salle du Conseil (council chamber) and the Salle des Mariages (wedding room). Both these rooms are still in use for their original purpose. 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 ...

, the politician, Lucien Villa, who was active in the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

, was arrested in September 1942, interrogated in the town hall and sentenced to 18 months in a prison in

Villeneuve-sur-Lot Villeneuve-sur-Lot (; in the Languedocien dialect of Occitan language: ''Vilanuèva d'Òlt'' ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly name ...

. In the early 1970s, the council, led by the mayor, Antoine Gayraud, decided to acquire an additional building to accommodate the offices of council officers and their staff. The building they selected was Hôtel de Rolland located a few yards to the east on the north side of Rue Aimé Ramond. The building had been commissioned by Jean-François Cavaillès, who was the son of a local merchant, in the mid-18th century. Construction of the new building started in 1751. It was designed by Guillaume Rollin 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 ...

, built in

rubble masonry Rubble masonry or rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Some medieval cathedral walls have outer shells of ashlar wi ...

and was completed in 1761. In 1815, the building was acquired by a lawyer, Antoine Joseph Gérard de Rolland du Roquan. It passed down the Rolland family until it was bought by

Crédit Agricole Crédit Agricole Group (), sometimes called La banque verte (, , due to its historical ties to farming), is a French international banking group and the world's largest cooperative financial institution. It is the second largest bank in France, ...

in 1924 and then by the council in 1978. The building was laid out as a

Hôtel particulier () is the French term for a grand urban mansion, comparable to a Townhouse (Great Britain), British townhouse. Whereas an ordinary (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a ...

around a courtyard, which opened out onto Ruelle Rolland, a narrow lane parallel and to the north of Rue Aimé Ramond. The design involved a four-storey main frontage at the back of the courtyard and four-storey wings on either side. The main frontage featured three round headed openings on the ground floor, a French door with a balcony on the first floor, a segmental headed window on the second floor and an oculus on the third floor. All the other bays were fenestrated by segmental headed windows. Works of art in the building included a painting by

Antoine Guillemet Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Guillemet (; June 30, 1843 in Chantilly (Oise) – May 19, 1918 in Mareuil-sur-Belle (Dordogne)) was a French renowned landscape painter and longtime Jury member of the Salon des Artistes Francais. He was one of the fi ...

depicting the

Cité de Carcassonne The Cité de Carcassonne ( ) is a medieval citadel located in the French city of Carcassonne, in the Aude department, Occitania region. It is situated on a hill on the right bank of the river Aude, in the south-eastern part of the city proper. ...

References

{{reflist

Government buildings completed in 1761 1761 establishments in France Monuments historiques of Aude Carcassonne