Foundation of the clinic 1956 (≈ 1956)
Created by Dr. Jeangirard.
9 janvier 2006
Registration for Historic Monuments
Registration for Historic Monuments 9 janvier 2006 (≈ 2006)
Protection of pavilions and Green Train.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
3e quart XXe siècle
Construction period
Construction period 3e quart XXe siècle (≈ 2062)
Major architectural achievements.
Heritage classified
The pavilions the small and the large Boissier and the "Green Train" in full (Box AM 240, 635, 690): inscription by order of 9 January 2006
Key figures
Docteur Jeangirard - Founder of the clinic
Project initiator in 1956.
Chilpéric de Boiscuillé - Swiss architect
Manufacturer of buildings with recovered materials.
Origin and history
The psychiatric clinic in Chesnaie was founded in 1956 by Dr Jeangirard as part of the institutional psychotherapy movement born after the Liberation. This current was intended to break with traditional asilary isolation by integrating patients into a network of social relations within the institution itself. The architecture, designed by Swiss architect Chilperic de Boiscuillé, used recovery materials, reflecting an economic and symbolic approach to reintegration by the building.
The clinic housed a school of institutional psychiatry as well as an antenna of the special school of architecture, dedicated to the design of the buildings needed for the project. Achievements include a meeting room fireplace, an occupational therapy workshop, and an original program called Orient-Express Hotel: a building for psychotherapists, built from first-class cars dating back to 1928. These elements illustrate the ambition of linking physical space and therapeutic practice.
Some pavilions, such as the small and the large Boissier, as well as the Green Train (set of equipped wagons), were protected by registration at the Historic Monuments in 2006. Their preservation bears witness to the historic importance of this site, both medical, architectural and social, in the history of French psychiatry of the 20th century.
