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Origin and history

The Paul-Baratgin school group, located in Lannemezan (Hautes-Pyrénées), was designed in the 3rd quarter of the 20th century as an ambitious project including a girls' school, a kindergarten, staff housing, garages and green spaces. The mass plan organizes buildings in relation to public roads, integrating recreation courses, gardens and pergolas, with particular attention to the solar orientation and the circulation of children. The materials (painted seams, reinforced concrete, slate) and architectural details (claustras, awnings, fountains) reflect a functional and aesthetic approach, inspired by the hygienist principles of the time.

The project, initiated in 1949, was entrusted to the architects Noël Lemaresquier (Grand Prix de Rome 1930) and Paul de Noyers, associated with the Toulouse company Pins frères. The work, estimated at 107 million francs, took place between 1951 and 1952, in a context of population growth linked to industrialization and post-World War II military installation. The school, originally named "Edouard Herriot", was renamed in 1966 in tribute to Mayor Paul Baratgin (1890–1966), a doctor and local political figure, instigator of the project.

The architecture of the school group is distinguished by its composition in stalled pavilions, adapted to the slope of the ground, and by interior spaces designed to optimize traffic and hygiene. The classrooms, 4.50 m high, were equipped with lockers, fountains and windows facing south, while the playgrounds, treed and partitioned, included landscaped facilities (parterres, massifs, pergolas). The building, registered with the Historical Monuments in 2024, illustrates the urban evolution of Lannemezan, from 2,529 inhabitants in 1936 to over 8,000 in the 1970s.

The school group is part of a triangular plot between Thiers Street and the old national road 117, in a neighbourhood then developing. The project also included the creation of new public roads, serviced to accompany this urban extension. Although adjacent land was reserved for a boys' school, it was never built. The architects, trained in Fine Arts, have here applied modern principles, combining pedagogical functionality, user comfort and landscape integration.

Noël Lemaresquier, chief architect of civil buildings and national palaces from 1954, marked Toulouse with other achievements (faculty of medicine, CHU of Rangueil). Paul de Noyers, his associate, taught at the Regional School of Architecture in Toulouse from 1947 to 1968. Their collaboration on this project reflects a desire to modernize primary education in a national context of post-war reconstruction and expansion of public facilities.

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