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

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Chérente-Marine''; ) is a Departments of France, department in the French Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the country's west coast. Named after the river Charente (river), Charen ...

, 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 ...

, standing on Rue de l'Hôtel de Ville. The building 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 1861.

History

Early history

A century after

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine ( or ; ; , or ; – 1 April 1204) was Duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As ...

granted the town a charter in 1199, the aldermen decided to establish their first town hall. They acquired five houses in the centre of the town in 1298, and amalgamated them to form a town hall. After a major fire destroyed much of the structure in 1486, it was rebuilt with the northern wall being completed in 1492, and the western wall being completed in 1498. The design involved

crenelated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

walls, corner

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

s and a large arched opening in the western wall. The Grande Galerie (the great gallery) in the centre of the building was completed in 1606, and a narrow property known as the Bâtiment des Échevins (Aldermen's House) on the east side of the building, adjoining Rue des Gentilshommes, was acquired in 1607. The Salle des Fêtes (the ballroom) was created above the great galley and featured a fine fireplace, incorporating a copy of a painting by

Frans Pourbus the Younger Frans Pourbus the Younger or Frans Pourbus (II) (Antwerp, 1569 – Paris, 1622)Frans Pourbus (II)
at the Henry IV.

Huguenot rebellion and expansion

The guidons, seized by the

huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

leader,

Benjamin, Duke of Soubise Benjamin de Rohan, duc de Soubise (1580–1642), was a French Huguenot leader. Son of René II, Viscount of Rohan, and younger brother of Henri de Rohan, he inherited the lordship of Soubise through his mother Catherine de Parthenay. He serv ...

, from Royalist forces when he took control of

Les Sables-d'Olonne Les Sables-d'Olonne (; French meaning: "The Sands of Olonne"; Poitevin: ''Lés Sablles d'Oloune'') is a seaside resort and port on the Atlantic coast of western France. A subprefecture of the department of Vendée, Pays de la Loi ...

during the

Huguenot rebellions The Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan Wars after the Huguenot leader Henri, Duke of Rohan, Henri de Rohan, were a series of rebellions of the 1620s in which French people, French Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots), mainly located in ...

were installed in the building in 1622. The mayor,

Jean Guiton Jean Guiton (2 July 1585 – 15 March 1654) was born in La Rochelle, where he followed the occupation of ship-owner A shipowner, ship owner or ship-owner is the owner of a ship. They can be merchant vessels involved in the sea transport, shippi ...

, who was also a huguenot, organized an energetic resistance against Royalist forces during the

siege of La Rochelle The siege of La Rochelle (, or sometimes ) was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627–1628. The siege marked the height of Huguenot rebellions, the struggle between ...

between 1627 and 1628 and the marble table with a chip made by his dagger, as he vowed to defend the city to the death, was also preserved there. After the Royalist victory at the end of the siege and the suppression of the Huguenots in 1628,

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

confiscated the town hall and gave it to the new governor,

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

. The local council, reformed in 1718, met at the Maison Henry II (Henry II House) on Rue des Augustins and Rue Chaudrier, until 1748, when the council reacquired the town hall. A major restoration project was then undertaken to a design by

Juste Lisch Jean Juste Gustave Lisch (; 10 June 1828 – 24 August 1910) was a French architect.belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

at the northwest corner of the complex. Additional buildings, not already in the council's ownership, were acquired to the south and to the northeast of the existing structure in the first half of the 20th century. However, the original internal partitions were retained, and the additional buildings never fully consolidated to create an efficient integrated complex.

Recent history

In October 1911, a statue by the sculptor,

Ernest Henri Dubois Ernest Henri Dubois (; March 16, 1863 in Dieppe; December 30, 1930 in Paris), was a French sculptor. He enrolled in 1881 at the École des Arts décoratiif and then attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he studied under Alexandre Falg ...

, of the huguenot, Jean Guiton, was unveiled in the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville. Then, in July 1948, General

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

unveiled a plaque on the town hall to commemorate the life of the former mayor,

Léonce Vieljeux Léonce Vieljeux (12 April 1865, Les Vans, Ardèche, France – 12 September 1944, Struthof) was a colonel in the French reserve army, industrialist and mayor of La Rochelle. Life Gaining a diploma from the École spéciale militaire de Saint-C ...

, who had refused to cooperate with a German officer who wanted a swastika flag hung on the town hall 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 ...

. Vieljeux was arrested, and subsequently executed at

Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp Natzweiler-Struthof was a Nazi concentration camp located in the Vosges Mountains close to the villages of Natzwiller, Natzweiler and Struthof in the Gau Baden-Alsace of Nazi Germany, Germany, on territory Annexation, annexed from France on a b ...

. In May 1992, a Franco-German summit took place in the Salle des Fêtes, at which Chancellor

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...

and President

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

agreed to form a joint military force. An extensive programme of refurbishment works, involving the restoration of the facades and

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

s, was undertaken between 2009 and 2012. A serious fire caused major damage to the complex on 28 June 2013. The areas most affected included the Salle des Fêtes, where the ceiling collapsed, and the municipal archives, which were damaged by the water used by the firemen. After a major programme of repairs, the building re-opened in December 2019. A new Salle du Conseil (council chamber), designed by Philippe Villeneuve, was established in the attic area previously occupied by the archives.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{cite book, last1= Robin, first1=Catherine, last2=Morel, first2=Fabienne , title= Le patrimoine des communes de la Charente-Maritime , volume =2, year= 2002, publisher= Flohic éditions, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVBaygAACAAJ , isbn= 978-2842341299 Buildings and structures in La Rochelle Buildings and structures completed in 1298 City and town halls in France 1298 establishments in France Monuments historiques of Charente-Maritime Government buildings completed in the 13th century