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Origin and history

The town hall of Châteaudun has its origin in the Charter of Commune granted in 1197 by Louis de Blois, confirmed in 1281 by Pierre Ier d'Alençon. This text granted the inhabitants the right to elect twelve notables to administer the city, with the church of Madeleine as the first communal seat until 1525, the date of the construction of a townhouse on the current site. This building was destroyed during the great fire of 20 June 1723, which destroyed 1,022 houses and left 80 per cent of the population homeless. Municipal services were then transferred to the local college, while the architect Jules Michel Alexandre Hardouin was entrusted by Louis XV with rebuilding the city.

In December 1723 Hardouin proposed an urban plan centred on a rectangular square, intended to accommodate four public buildings symbolizing power: the town hall, the bailiff, the election and the salt attic. However, the construction of the city hall did not begin until 1767, after decades of postponement. The initial plans of the entrepreneur Philippe Guillous (died 1773) were rejected, and those of the local architect Pierre Toufaire — offered free of charge "for the love of the Fatherland" — were finally retained. The first stone was laid on 14 May 1777 by Nicolas Maury, baili of Dunois, and the work was completed in 1783.

The building is characterized by a symmetrical neoclassical facade, rhythmic by arches in the middle of the ground floor and rectangular windows on the upper floor, surmounted by an arased pediment (probably destroyed during the Revolution). Inside, the wedding hall preserves three paintings by Edmond Lechevallier-Chavignard (1881) celebrating local history, while a painting by Henri Philippoteaux (1879) commemorates the city's defence in 1870. The elevation and the roof were listed as historical monuments in 1953, highlighting its heritage importance.

The monument thus embodies both the resilience of Châteaudun after the 1723 disaster and the architectural ambition of the Enlightenment, mixing civic function and political symbolism. Its location on the Place du 18-October, in the heart of a rational urban plan, makes it a major testimony of the 18th century urban planning in the Centre-Val de Loire.

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