City Hall

On the riverside, the City Hall is a building that attracts the eye.

Its monumental facade, as we see it today, is the result of a work campaign carried out around 1900.
Before, the city hall was smaller, though located roughly at the same place. In 1710, it was situated in the shade of the castle of the Counts of Champagne. After successive restorations, the city hall delivered in 1833 was then facing the North of the city, near the place Henri Moissan. Today, this building is the northern wing of the city hall.
The destruction of the castle of the Counts of Champagne (between the 20th of August 1888 and the 31st of December 1890), allowed the municipality to extend the city hall: Auguste Boudinaud is in charge of the works in 1892.
In 1895, the municipal council adopt the project’s completion: the construction of a central building thus takes place, and the original building of the city hall (left/North wing) is renovated. The city hall’s inauguration took place on the 4th of March 1900. The main facade was moved to the West (as we know it today), and a public garden was created in 1902 to further highlight it.

Must see: the monumental façade of the city hall is worth seeing (balcony, staircase, columns, clock, and small bell tower). The city’s coat of arm crowns the clock (sculptor: Devêche). But there is more to discover! Enter the building to see the main staircase, as well as a stained-glass showcased at the exhibition of 1900: it represents the Count of Champagne giving Meaux its first Communal Charter in 1179. The scene takes inspiration from a book published in 1865 by Antoine-Etienne Carro counting the history of Meaux and its surroundings. The artist who worked on the stained-glassed added the portraits of the craftsmen who built the city hall, including the portrait of the architect, Boudinaud.