Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

School group - city hall - justice of peace in Morez, located in the Hauts de Bienne (Jura), is an emblematic building built at the end of the 19th century. Designed by architects Tony Ferret and Adrien Pinchard, it replaces a former hall-mary and incorporates multiple functions: education (primary, kindergarten, vocational school), administration (mayory, justice of peace) and public services (police, telegraph). The ensemble, rectangular (55 m x 90 m), organizes around a central courtyard, with an entrance pavilion decorated with a pediment with the city's weapons, a monumental clock (Gift of Prost-Frères) and a campanile. The facades, made of cut stone, combine full-circle and rectangular arches, while the metal roofs in scale tiles cover long-paned breaks.

The project was born in 1876, when the municipal council launched a programme to rebuild schools and the town hall, centralizing these functions in a single building. A competition was won in 1879 by Ferret and Pinchard, whose plans also included a museum, a gymnasium and a school of industry (lunettery, watchmaking). The works, awarded in 1887, were completed in 1891, with an inauguration in 1890 in the presence of Minister Yves Guyot. The wing was raised in 1923 after a fire to accommodate the National Vocational School (transferred in 1922). The building, a symbol of the modernization of public services under the Third Republic, is listed in the Historical Monuments in 2005 for its facades, roofs, vestibules, honorary staircase and council hall.

However, the history of the site dates back to the early 19th century: in 1817, architect Denis-Philibert Lapret proposed a first town hall project, completed in 1821 despite structural problems. Successive extensions (1835, 1846, 1849) add a justice of peace, vaults, and a fire pump shed. The site also houses a clock school (1855–62), a telegraph office (1860–97), and girls' schools from 1862. These uses reflect the economic evolution of Morez, marked by the watch and moon industry, and the affirmation of its administrative role in the Jura.

The current eclectic building illustrates the Republican ambition to rationalize public space. His two-flyed staircase serves an old party hall, while the inscriptions "Hôtel de Ville" and "1889–90" highlight his civic vocation. The sculptures (chapitals, pendants) made by G. Delorme in 1893 adorn a building where are interspersed local memory (arms of the city) and innovation (metal roofs). The court, recently equipped with a hexagonal preau, retains its original disposition, testifying to the sustainability of this collective place of life.

Owned by the municipality, the school group - Town hall - justice of peace remains a major urban landmark, located in Place Jean-Jaurès. Its inscription in 2005 protects an architectural and social heritage, where the changes of an industrial city and the educational ideals of the late 19th century are read.

External links