Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-Brieuc-Centerale railway station, built between 1902 and 1905, was the nerve centre of the departmental network of the Côtes-du-Nord Railways. Designed by engineer Louis Harel de la Noë, it was distinguished by its hall covered with eight parabolic arches of reinforced concrete, an innovative technique for the time. Four railway lines left: Plouha, Le Phare, Moncontour and the West Railway Station. The Marquise housed four lanes, while a side building served both as a passenger station and as an administrative centre for the entire network.

When it closed on 31 December 1956, the station was converted to a bus station and then to a university restaurant from 1999 to 2021. In 2014, its most remarkable elements – vaults, roofs of the central hall, east gable wall and facades of the west building – were listed as historical monuments. The architect David Cras supervised his conversion in 1995, thus preserving part of the Breton industrial heritage. In 2024, a short food project, led by the promoter Bleu Mercure, was selected to revive this emblematic place.

The station embodies the golden age of the departmental railways, marking the climax of a network designed to open up the rural areas of Brittany. Its architecture, combining functionality and aesthetics, bears witness to the technical audacity of Louis Harel de la Noë, pioneer of reinforced concrete. The preservation of the hall, with its characteristic parabolic arch, underscores the heritage importance of this building, a symbol of a time when the train was structuring the economic and social life of the region.

External links