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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The town hall of Bruay-la-Buissière was built between 1927 and 1931 by architects Paul and René Hanote, in a neo-regionalist style inspired by the Flemish Renaissance. This project was part of a vast urban plan to modernize the city, whose population was growing rapidly thanks to the growth of the Bruay Mining Company, which has been active since the mid-19th century. The first stone was laid in 1928, and the inauguration took place on 27 September 1931. The building incorporated recycled materials from the demolition of mining company workers' houses re-used for foundations.

The ground floor housed public services such as police, granting and justice of the peace, while the floor housed municipal offices, including those of the mayor and his deputies. The top floor was dedicated to the wedding hall and the municipal council hall. A remarkable element of the building is the stairwell, adorned with stained glass windows made by master glassmakers Labelle and Bertrand. These stained glass windows, dating back to 1931, represent the Bruay mine pit number 3, a symbol of the city's industrial identity.

The construction of the city hall reflected the ambition of Bruay-la-Buissière to establish a modern administration, adapted to its status as a growing mining city. The building was part of a larger architectural complex, including a large square lined with brick walls and reinforced cement fences, designed to structure the urban heart. This project was based on the legacy of the Bruay Mining Company, whose coal activity had transformed the local social and economic landscape since the 1850s.

The history of Bruay-la-Buissière is inseparable from that of its mining basin. In 1852, the Bruay Mining Company, founded by industrialists such as Leconte and Lalou, exploited coal in the region, contributing to the rapid urbanization of the city. The city hall, with its architecture and decors, pays tribute to this industrial past. The glass windows of the stairwell, in particular, illustrate the importance of pit 3, one of the most productive in the basin, with more than 53 million tons of coal extracted between 1870 and 1966.

The building was partially classified at the Historic Monuments in 2009, mainly for its facades, roofs, the stairwell with its stained glass windows, as well as the wedding hall and the city council. This protection underscores the heritage value of the building, both as a testimony to the neo-regional architecture of the 1930s and as a symbol of the mining history of the Hauts-de-France.

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