Hôtel de Ville

The Hôtel de Ville (French pronunciation: [otɛl də vil], City Hall) is the city hall of Paris, France, standing on the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville – Esplanade de la Libération in the 4th arrondissement. The south wing was originally constructed by Francis I beginning in 1535 until 1551. The north wing was built by Henry IV and Louis XIII between 1605 and 1628.[1] It was burned by the Paris Commune, along with all the city archives that it contained, during the Semaine Sanglante, the Commune's final days, in May 1871.[2] The outside was rebuilt following the original design, but larger, between 1874 and 1882, while the inside was considerably modified.[3] It has been the headquarters of the municipality of Paris since 1357. It serves multiple functions, housing the local government council, since 1977 the Mayors of Paris and their cabinets, and also serves as a venue for large receptions. It was designated a monument historique by the French government in 1975.

History

The original building

In July 1357, Étienne Marcel, provost of the merchants (i.e. mayor) of Paris, bought the so-called maison aux piliers ("House of Pillars") in the name of the municipality on the gently sloping shingle beach which served as a river port for unloading wheat and wood and later merged into a square, the Place de Grève ("Strand Square"), a place where Parisians often gathered, particularly for public executions. Ever since 1357, the City of Paris's administration has been located on the same location where the Hôtel de Ville stands today. Before 1357, the city administration was located in the so-called parloir aux bourgeois ("Parlour of Burgesses") near the Châtelet.[5]

In 1533, King Francis I decided to endow Paris with a city hall which would be worthy of his capital, then the largest city of Europe and Christendom. He appointed two architects: Italian Dominique de Cortone, nicknamed Boccador because of his red beard, and Frenchman Pierre Chambiges. The House of Pillars was torn down and Boccador, steeped in the spirit of the Renaissance, drew up the plans of a building which was at the same time tall, spacious, full of light and refined. Building work was not finished until 1628 during the reign of Louis XIII.

During the next two centuries, no changes were made to the edifice which was the stage for several famous events during the French Revolution. On 14 July 1789, the last provost of the merchants Jacques de Flesselles was murdered by an angry crowd. On 27 July 1794, Maximilien Robespierre attempted to commit suicide following a coup and was arrested along with his followers.

19th-century additions

From 1834, the Hôtel de Ville became the seat of the Paris municipal council.[8] In 1835, on the initiative of Claude-Philibert Barthelot, comte de Rambuteau, préfet of the Seine département, two wings were added to the main building and were linked to the façade by a gallery, to provide more space for the expanded city government. The architects were Étienne-Hippolyte Godde and Jean-Baptiste Lesueur.[9]

Under the Second Empire, the Hôtel de Ville was used by the new regime to showcase its power. In 1852, during the plebiscite in favor of Napoleon III, the Hôtel was decorated with the colors of the Emperor and the imperial proclamation was made there.[10] It also became the seat of the Prefecture, in addition to hosting major celebrations such as the visit of Queen Victoria in 1855.[11] To clear its access, Haussmann had nine streets razed to create the Avenue Victoria.[12]

The Paris Commune

During the Franco-Prussian War, the building played a key role in several political events. On 30 October 1870, revolutionaries broke into the building and captured some of the members of the Government of National Defence, while making repeated demands for the establishment of a communard government. The existing government escaped via a tunnel built in 1807, which still connects the Hôtel de Ville with a nearby barracks.[13]: Kindle 2416  On 23 January 1871, crowds gathered outside the building to protest against speculated surrender to the Prussians, and were dispersed by soldiers firing from the building, who inflicted several casualties.: Kindle 4699 

The Hôtel de Ville had been the headquarters of the French Revolution, and likewise, it was the headquarters of the Paris Commune. On 23 and 24 May 1871, when defeat became increasingly imminent and the French army approached the building, the Communards set fire to the Hôtel de Ville, along with other government buildings, destroying it and almost all of the city archives prior to 1860.

Already, early that morning, the Commune added to the flames one of the finest and most historic buildings of all Paris – the Hôtel de Ville itself. At 8 a.m. some fifteen members met there to discuss its immediate evacuation, and only Delescluze and one other had protested. In its despair, a scorched-earth policy had now become the retreating Communard's automatic response, and by 11 a.m. the Hôtel de Ville was a sea of flames.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction of City Hall lasted from 1873 through 1892 (19 years) and was directed by architects Théodore Ballu and Édouard Deperthes, who had won the public competition for the building's reconstruction. The plan entailed the removal of the ruins, and the construction of a completely new building, with a central façade replicating the original 16th-century French Renaissance building. The side wings replicated those of the 1830-40s, but wider. The building was 50 metres (160 ft) high at its highest point.

Behind the façades, the interior was based on an entirely new design, with ceremonial rooms lavishly decorated in the 1880s style. Ballu also designed the Church of La Trinité in the 9th arrondissement and the belfry of the town hall of the 1st arrondissement, opposite the Louvre's east façade. He also restored the Saint-Jacques Tower, a Gothic church tower in a square 150 metres (490 ft) to the west of the Hôtel de Ville.

Later events Since the French Revolution, the building has been the scene of a number of historical events, notably the proclamation of the French Third Republic in 1870.