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Origin and history

The Hôtel du Jeur Garde des Monnaies de Lille found its origins in the creation of a monetary workshop in Lille in 1685 by Louis XIV, after the French conquest of 1667. Located in a building originally owned by Lille's chestnut, this Mint hotel had jurisdiction over Artois, Flanders and Hainaut. The typing equipment came from the former workshop in Tournai, and hereditary offices were established there, including that of judge-guard, to supervise the manufacture of currencies. Rue Saint-Pierre, where the workshop was located, was renamed rue de la Monnaie with reference to this activity.

In 1781 Judge-garde Delpierre de Ligny built his residence next to the Hôtel des Monnaies by architect François-Joseph Gombert, for a partial cost of £12,000. This neoclassical building, decorated with Louis XV motifs, survived the closure of the monetary workshop in 1857 and the demolition of the Hôtel des Monnaies in 1858. Then transformed into a religious building (Hotel Notre-Dame), it now houses a estaminet restaurant, while retaining its inscription in the Historical Monuments since 1970.

The initial monetary workshop, mentioned as early as 1066 in a charter of Baudoin VI, had disappeared before the Burgundy domination (1384–1667). An aborted project in 1656 envisaged its restoration in the former Hall of Phalempin, then owned by the king of Spain. The current site, on the edge of the Saint-Pierre Canal (today partially covered), recalls this story by its toponym and cellars, where an association perpetuates the local numismatic memory under the name L-Atelier de la Monnaie.

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