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Origin and history

The building in Toulouse, on Wilson Square, is a neoclassical building built between 1824 and 1834. It is part of an urban beautification programme aimed at modernizing the city, with 27 buildings aligned around the square and alleys of President Roosevelt. The architect Jacques-Pascal Virebent, responsible for the plans, designed a crossing building, organised around a courtyard today covered, with symmetrical facades on Wilson Square and Victor-Hugo Street.

The façade on Place Wilson is distinguished by nine spans, combining arcades and rectangular openings on the ground floor, while the upper floors have windows topped with cornices and balusters. A covered passage links the square to Victor-Hugo Street. On the latter, the elevation highlights three central spans adorned with Corinthian columns and denticle cornices. The ensemble, inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1974 for its facades and roofs, reflects the influence of neoclassical style in the 19th century Toulouse architecture.

The building is integrated into a larger urban project, symbolizing Toulouse's transformation under the impetus of local authorities. Its architecture, both functional and aesthetic, met the needs of a rising bourgeoisie while affirming the city's prestige. Wilson Square, now a central place, was then conceived as a space of representation, framed by homogeneous and monumental buildings.

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