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Origin and history

The Baths of Châtel-Guyon, also known as Grands-Thermes, were built in 1906 by architect François-Benjamin Chaussemiche, winner of the Grand Prix of Rome in 1893. Sponsored by the Société des Eaux Minerales, they aimed to give prestige to the spa of Châtel-Guyon in Puy-de-Dôme. The building, in Romano-auvergnat style, blending ancient influences, is adorned with a mountain dug to exploit hot mineral water springs. Its rectangular plan, organized around an atrium covered with a glass roof, includes a central vestibule, a large walk-in hall, and wings housing changing rooms and care cabins on two levels.

The establishment is distinguished by the richness of its interior decoration, combining polychrome faiences (work by ceramicist Hippolyte Boulenger), stuccos, marbles, and non-figurative stained glass windows adorning the doors of the hall. The capitals and stucco ornaments were carved by A. October. In 1937, architectural changes replaced terraces with two-sided roofs and interior columns with smooth concrete. The floors, in mosaics and tiles of sandstone, as well as the walls covered with earthenware, bear witness to a high quality eclecticism, characteristic of the thermal baths of the early twentieth century.

The Great Baths closed permanently in 2004, after almost a century of activity. Part of the building was protected as historical monuments by order of 15 January 1990, covering, inter alia, facades, roofs, the vestibule, the large hall, traffic galleries, and the undressing of care cabins. Today, this thermal heritage recalls the importance of hydromineral stations in French society, combining health, architecture and social prestige.

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