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Origin and history

The hotel des postes du Touquet-Paris-Plage was built in 1927 by Delcourt Frères, according to the plans of architect Jean Boissel, winner of a municipal competition reserved for local architects. This competition, organized in 1925, opposed Boissel to Louis Quételart and André Pouthier. The building, located 100 rue de Metz, replaces the former chapel Saint-André (1887), evoked by the small bell tower adorning its roof. The facades, the lobby and the roofs, which have been listed as historic monuments since 1997, combine stone bellows, reinforced concrete and Art Deco elements, such as the ceramics of Delassus (Desvres) and the missing stained glass windows of Gaëtan Jeannin.

The construction was marked by municipal debates, notably on the location of the main entrance: initially planned rue de London (like the chapel), it was finally fixed rue de Metz after a tight vote (11 votes to 8). Another unforeseen event occurred in 1927, when the initial company went bankrupt a few months before the opening. The municipality then entrusted the completion of the works to Delcourt Frères, allowing the inauguration on 22 July 1927. The hall, described as large and high, was decorated with flaming sandstone tiles and glass windows illustrating the means of postal transport (auto, train, ship, plane), now missing.

The building was sold to the state in 1963. Its architecture, close to Boissel's original project, is distinguished by an arcade porch, a bowl-window upstairs, and an overflowing gable with a pendulum. The lateral facades, reworked in relation to the original plane, have long broken sections and dormant windows. The hotel des postes embodies the urban development of the Touquet in the inter-war period, combining technical modernity (armed concrete) and local references, as the bell tower recalls the religious past of the site.

The 1925 competition reflected the municipal ambitions of the time: limiting participation to architects installed before 1924 to anchor the project in the local fabric. The ousted candidates, Quételart and Pouthier, had also proposed designs, but it was Boissel's vision, combining postal functionality and homage to the chapel, which was retained. The collaborations with regional craftsmen (ceramist Delassus, glassmaker Jeannin) highlight the artistic anchoring of the building in the Hauts-de-France.

Prior to 1927, the postal service was provided by a building built in 1907 by architect Sardnal on London Street. The new, more spacious post responded to the growing tourist influx of Touquet, a growing seaside resort. Its lobby, designed for sorting and welcoming the public, included telephone niches and counters aligned at the bottom. Materials, such as the flamed sandstone of Fourmaintreaux, and the Art Deco motifs (oculus, arcades) bear witness to a desire for prestige, characteristic of the public facilities of this period.

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