Acquisition of land 1935 (≈ 1935)
The municipality buys the land of the Gervais factory.
1940
Inauguration and requisition
Inauguration and requisition 1940 (≈ 1940)
Early opening, then German occupation during the war.
1940 et 1944
Bombardments
Bombardments 1940 et 1944 (≈ 1944)
Major damage during World War II.
1945-1960
Restoration
Restoration 1945-1960 (≈ 1953)
Works financed by war damage.
années 1970
College Transformation
College Transformation années 1970 (≈ 1970)
Closed boarding school and architectural changes.
2021
Partial protection
Partial protection 2021 (≈ 2021)
Registration of facades and entrance hall.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
The former Jean Fernel College, facades and roofs for the two wings designed by Lucien Daboval and entirely for the entrance hall with the two monumental stairs in the south wing, located rue Eugène-Fortin, appearing in the cadastre, section AM, parcel 23, as delimited on the plan annexed to the decree: inscription by order of 8 June 2021
Key figures
Lucien Daboval - Architect
College designer and winner of the competition.
Origin and history
Jean Fernel College was designed to replace the former college of Clermont, which had been installed since the Revolution in an old convent. In 1935, the municipality acquired land to the northwest of the city, including the "Château de la Belle-Assise", and entrusted the project to architect Lucien Daboval. The latter imagines a U-shaped ensemble, integrating externate, boarding school, refectory and classrooms, into a park. The construction site, ambitious, combines rehabilitation of existing buildings and new ones.
Inaugurated in 1940 when work was not completed, the college was immediately requisitioned by German troops during World War II. Damaged by bombings in 1940 and 1944, it was restored between 1945 and 1960 thanks to war damage funds. The 1970s marked a major transformation: the closure of the boarding school, the conversion of dormitories to classrooms, the demolition of the refectory and kitchens, and the addition of sports grounds.
As early as 2003, a new establishment replaced the decommissioned Collège Jean Fernel. Only the facades and roofs of the wings designed by Daboval, as well as the entrance hall with its monumental staircases, have been protected under the Historic Monuments since 2021. The site thus bears witness to the architectural and educational developments of the twentieth century, as well as to the upheavals linked to the war.
