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Origin and history

Chaptal High School, founded by the teacher Prosper Goubaux under the name of institution Saint-Victor (1844), initially settled between Blanche and Clichy streets. Renamed Collège Chaptal in 1848, he specializes in commercial and industrial teachings, a novelty in a France still centered on humanities. In debt, Goubaux gave way to the city of Paris, which decided to build a new school complex to respond to the influx of students.

In 1863, the board of directors approved the move to a garden of 13,500 m2 between Boulevard des Batignolles and Rue de Rome. The architect Eugene Train designs a monumental brick and iron ensemble, combining neo-Roman and neo-Renaissance styles, with facades decorated with the words "Industrie" and "Commerce", and a bust of Athena. The works (1866–76), interrupted by the Franco-Prussian war (1870–71), saw the site serve as a entrenchment during the Paris Commune, then Protestant ambulance for 300 wounded.

Inaugurated in 1874, the high school received as early as 1877 more pupils than expected (1,300 against 1,000). During the First World War, he became a hospital for broken gullies. The chapel, transformed into a library in 1881, was destroyed in the 1970s to give way to a concrete building housing a CDI and a gymnasium. Ranked a historic monument in 1987, the high school maintains a museum of 19th century scientific instruments, accessible at events like Science Day.

Chaptal High School is distinguished by its scientific orientation (17 of the 22 preparatory classes in 2015) and its history linked to educational innovation. His association of former students, founded in 1854, remains active. The site, marked by bullet strikes from the Commune, also symbolizes Parisian resilience. In 2020, he enrolled 2,000 students, from the sixth to the preparatory classes.

The name of the lycée pays tribute to Jean-Antoine Chaptal (1756–1832), a chemist and politician, while its founder, Prosper Goubaux, is honored by a hall and an adjacent square. The high school also served as a cinematic setting, as in À nous les petites anglais (1976) or the Speakerine series (2018), where it embodied the quai des Orfèvres.

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