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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Divers
  3. Centre Val-de-Loire
  4. Cher
  5. 18000 Bourges

  6. Old party room, currently home of culture and music school

Old party room, currently home of culture and music school à Bourges dans le Cher

Cher

Old party room, currently home of culture and music school

    6 Boulevard Lahitolle
    18000 Bourges
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique
Ancienne salle des fêtes, actuellement maison de la Culture et école de musique

Timeline

XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1900
2000
1936-1938
Initial construction
12 octobre 1963
Inauguration of Culture House
18 avril 1964
Official Inauguration
1994
Historical monument classification
2009-2013
Abandoned renovation project
10 septembre 2021
Opening of new premises
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Artillery school: enclosure wall on Lahitolle Boulevard, with gates and gate; facades and roofs (CE 1). Foundry: enclosure wall on Lahitolle Boulevard, with gates and gates; facades and roofs of the two administrative and housing buildings (A and B); facades and roofs of the outbuildings of these two buildings (T and S); Court of Honour; wall separating the courtyard of honor from the courtyard of the foundry proper, with the gates and gate; courses and streets of the foundry; façades and roofs of workshops and shops, i.e.: mechanical workshop (H) , mechanical workshops (K) , pavilions (I : wing cutting workshop, and P : store of various objects and laboratory) , constructions linking pavilions I and P to workshops H and K , drill (E) , scissors (F) , general supply store (N) , wood and metal store (O) , stable-hangar (Q) , supply stores (O') (letters in brackets refer to the plan attached to the decree) (Cd. CE 2, 35): inscription by order of 8 March 1995

Key figures

Marcel Pinon - Municipal architect Building designer (1936-1938).
André Malraux - Minister of Cultural Affairs Inaugurate the House of Culture in 1964.
Raymond Boisdé - Mayor of Bourges Initiator of conversion in 1963.
François Popineau - Sculptor Author of bas-reliefs of the facade.
Gabriel Monnet - Director of the Drama Centre First Director (1963-1969), room appointed in his honour.

Origin and history

The old hall of the holidays of Bourges, built between 1936 and 1938 by architect Marcel Pinon, is part of an ambitious municipal project interrupted by the Second World War. Designed to become a place of public pleasure, the building adopts an Art Deco style, with bas-reliefs signed by François Popineau and Louis Thébault. Its pediment and hall, now classified, bear witness to this time of fascination with urban architecture.

In the 1960s, under the leadership of Mayor Raymond Boisdé and André Malraux, Minister of Cultural Affairs, the building was converted into a house of culture — the first in France. Inaugurated in 1963, then in 1964 in the presence of Malraux, it houses two theatres (916 and 350 seats), exhibitions, and a national drama centre. This place became a cultural leader, hosting the Printemps de Bourges in 1977 and the Bourges Experimental Music Group (GMEB) from 1970 to 2011.

Ranked a historic monument in 1994, the building is undergoing an aborted renovation project between 2009 and 2013. Archaeological excavations, revealing Gallo-Roman thermal baths, and additional costs (19 million euros estimated) lead to the abandonment of the works. In 2021, the House of Culture moved to a new complex designed by the agency Ivars and Ballet, leaving the old site without permanent assignment before 2026.

The Palmarium, formerly present on the site, gives way to a festive hall designed to modernise Berruyère social life. Its architecture, although partially unfinished, symbolizes the innovation of the 1930s. The bas-reliefs and the listed staircase today recall this heritage, while the Gallo-Roman remains discovered in 2012 add an unsuspected historical dimension.

The new House of Culture, inaugurated in 2021 on a wooded elevation near Place Séraucourt, includes two cinemas, a restaurant, and modular spaces. The project, controversial for its environmental impact (82 trees felled), is based on archaeological excavations that revealed a Gallic and Gallo-Roman neighborhood, including houses, wells, and potters' workshops dating from the third century BC.

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum