TOWN HALL

Le Havre City Hall was designed by architects Auguste Perret and Jacques Tournant. It was inaugurated in 1958. It was built on the site of the old town hall, destroyed during the bombings. It is central to Perret’s reconstruction vision since the city’s east-west and north-south axes start from the building and the square surrounding it. The main body is 96 metres long. The tower above it, to the west, is 70 metres high. As is often the case in Perret’s construction in Le Havre, the columns he likes give a building with straight, rough shapes a lightness and elegance that cannot be taken away from it. The main building houses the wedding halls and the town council hall decorated with a large tapestry, L’Eau et le feu (5.90 x 4.40 metres), designed by Jean Lurçat (1892-1966). The salamander, emblem of Francis I and the city, is particularly noteworthy. The tower houses the offices of the mayor, deputies and municipal services. The top floor offers a panoramic view of the entire city. It had to be surmounted by a lantern that Tournant decided not to build. The church of Saint-Joseph and the tower of the town hall punctuate the high space with two beautiful edifying punctuations.

The gardens of the town hall were also designed by Auguste Perret. The large esplanade, which today only cuts through the tramway, was originally a road used by all vehicles. Only the fountain next to the rue de Paris had been designed during the reconstruction, in a more sober version. A few years later, the basins with water lilies and granite spheres that move under the influence of water made it possible to soften their original rigour.