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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Laçay Hotel is an iconic building on the island of La Réunion, located at the 6th Pier Gilbert in Saint Paul. Built between 1816 and 1837, it embodies the civil architecture of the first half of the 19th century, with a rectangular plan, two forebody and a covered gallery towards the sea, now disappeared. Its brickwork walls of lime-burdened rubble, as well as its bay frames and its stone-cut corner links, reflect the local construction techniques of the time.

Acquired in 1846 by merchant Paul Lacay (originally from the Basses-Pyrénées), the mansion was transformed into a hotel. Over the decades, the building changed its vocation several times: the headquarters of the Société de Marines Gathered in 1867, the gendarmerie brigade, the school of boys until 1961, the fire station until 1996, and then municipal offices. Its designation as Historic Monuments in 2010, including the soil of the parcel, underscores its heritage importance.

The sea-side gallery, carried by wooden columns and decorated with flat balusters on the floor, disappeared around 1950. Today, owned by the municipality of Saint-Paul, the Laçay hotel bears witness to the urban and social evolution of the city, while preserving architectural elements characteristic of its time. Its history also reflects the successive adaptations of a building to various public uses, thus marking the collective memory of Réunion.

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