Hôtel de Ville, Boulogne-Billancourt

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Hôtel de Ville in Boulogne-Billancourt is the town hall for this western suburb of Paris, located on Avenue André Morizet. Built between 1931 and 1934, it was designed in the Art Deco style by Tony Garnier and Jacques Debat-Ponsan using reinforced concrete. The building sits on the site of a former quarry at the corner of Rue Gallieni and Rue Paul-Bert. It has two main blocks, with a front block facing the street that features a 19-bay façade and a central entry reached by steps under a curved canopy. Inside, the large Grand Hall des Guichets measures about 65 by 28 meters. The town hall houses artworks by Paul Cornet: Seated Woman (1930) and Venus and Cupid (1941). It was designated a monument historique in 1975.

Before this building, Boulogne-Billancourt’s town council offices moved several times since the French Revolution, occupying clergy houses and other buildings. In the late 1920s, Mayor André Morizet led the project for a larger town hall in the center of the town. Construction began in December 1931 and the building opened on 15 December 1934. In World War II, the Resistance seized the town hall five days before Boulogne-Billancourt was liberated on 26 August 1944 by General Philippe Leclerc’s 2nd Armoured Division.