Dominating a vast flowered and tree-lined esplanade, the town hall of Nogent was built following the war of 1870, thanks to the gift of a Marshal of the Empire, Jean-Baptiste Vaillant. During the conflict, German Confederate troops besieged Paris and the various forts surrounding the capital. The fort and the town of Nogent are thus at the heart of the fighting. Military batteries are even added to the defensive system. These are fixed, among other things, in the gardens of the property of Marshal Vaillant, Minister of War (1854-1859) then Minister of the House of the Emperor and Fine Arts of Napoleon III. The fighting is intense.
When the war was over, part of Nogent was destroyed. The damage was such that Marshal Vaillant renounced living on his damaged property. He then donated it in 1872 to the commune on the condition that it build a new town hall instead. On June 4, he died without having his wish fulfilled.
Architects and politicians from Nogent launched the construction project on this site, which had several advantages: it was in the centre of the town, which at the time included the Perreux district, and it filled a void in this part of the territory made up of large properties. The objective is therefore to create a real district around the town hall.
First entrusted to the architects Letrosne and Naissant, the construction site was postponed due to difficulties related to the nature of the soil. A new architect, Simonnet, took over and completed the work in 1879.
Like many town halls at the end of the 19th century, the Town Hall of Nogent is a pastiche of past centuries, taking on forms from antiquity, the Renaissance and the 17th century. At the same time, the Grande Rue and the rue des Jardins (now rue des Héros Nogentais, then Place Roland Nungesser in its part near the town hall) are extended on either side of the new building. A new street was opened on the marshal’s property bearing his name.
The paintings of the lounge of honour
The Town Hall was inaugurated in 1879. In 1886, the municipal council asked the Minister of Fine Arts for a set of paintings to decorate the wedding hall. Forty-eight artists, including Henri Matisse, presented sketches to the jury composed of Puvis de Chavannes, Jean-Paul Laurens and Léon Bonnat, among others, who selected three artists. On October 29, 1889, the project of Adrien Karbowsky, a student of Puvis de Chavannes, was selected. He made six paintings in pastel colors, 3.50 m high. They are inspired by the landscapes of the banks of the Marne, illustrated by the boats and the viaduct separating Nogent from the Perreux. Entitled Resorting, Ploughing, Youth, Navigation, Rest and Funeral, the canvases also recall the cycle of the seasons and life. The paintings evoking spring and autumn are followed by the winter of the funeral. The fresco of the resort depicts a child in the arms of his nanny. A young man illustrates the activity of ploughing, a sunny landscape that contrasts with bare trees and women wrapped up at funerals around the 1870 Memorial to the Dead.
Birth, marriage, death… a delicate evocation of the most important stages of life when you go to the town hall.
The Marshal Vaillant (1790-1872)
A great strategist of the French army, who was able to win the confidence of emperors and kings, Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant led a military and political career remarkable for its longevity through the ups and downs of the 19th century. He lived in Nogent-sur-Marne where a street honors his memory.
A brilliant military and political career
Born in Dijon, Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant decided at a very young age to pursue a military career, out of admiration for General Bonaparte. He entered the Polytechnics School and then the Application of artillery school in Metz. As a lieutenant, Vaillant took part in Napoleon I’s major campaigns, particularly that of Russia (1812), where he showed such courage that he was awarded the Legion of Honor cross at the age of 22. On Napoleon’s return from his brief exile (1814-1815), Vaillant was in charge of building the defenses of Paris and its region. He had a fortified structure built at Nogent on the current site of the Fort. On June 18, 1815, he was at the Emperor’s side in Waterloo. When Louis XVIII regained power, Vaillant faithfully served the monarchy.
Commander Vaillant then participated in the campaign to conquer Algeria (1830) and the campaign to liberate Belgium from Holland (1831).
Promoted to colonel, he commanded the Polytechnics School and then answered the call of the Ministry of War (1840). He was then assigned to the Fortifications Committee on the right bank of Paris. His expertise earned him the appointment of Inspector General of Fortifications in 1845.
During the Second Republic, he so skillfully managed the siege of Rome, avoiding any damage, that he received the baton of Marshal of France in 1851. Decorated with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, a member of the Academy of Sciences, he entered politics as a senator and was appointed Grand Marshal of the palace by Napoleon III. Minister of War (1854-1859), he worked to reorganize the army, thus contributing to Solferino’s victory alongside the Italians. Marshal Vaillant then served as minister of the Emperor’s House (1860-1870) and of the Fine Arts (1863-1870).
At the height of his career, he was one of the highest figures in the State and lived near the Court, while being in charge of inspecting the emperor’s many construction sites, particularly in Paris alongside Baron Haussmann (drilling of the rue de Rivoli, extension of the Louvre Palace, landscaping of the Bois de Boulogne and Vincennes…).
In 1845, Vaillant bought a vast property in Nogent from the Count of Dampierre, located between the Grande rue and the streets of Plaisance, des Jardins (now Place Roland Nungesser) and de Coulmiers. A beautiful 17th century residence, it belonged to several personalities, including the Marquise de Lambert, who lives there and then the Countess of Larboust.
Despite the joy of meeting his friend, Prosper Baüyn, Marquis de Perreuse (Mayor of Nogent from 1834 to 1868), with whom he shared a room at the Polytechnics School, the marshal was not happy in Nogent. He has serious problems in his neighborhood and in his household. In 1869, he wrote to Perreuse to prevent the municipal council from voting to give his name to a street, preferring to have this tribute paid to him after his death. This honour is all the more legitimate as Vaillant opened his property so that a defensive structure could be built there when the Prussians arrived in 1870. Nogent was then transformed into a battlefield. The inhabitants fled, batteries were erected in front of the attackers and the city resisted until September 1871, after the January armistice.
When Vaillant returned to Paris after a forced exile, he did not return to Nogent where his house had been bombed. In March 1872, he donated it to the town, on the condition that it would build a town hall: “I give my property to Nogent on the express condition that on its site the town hall of the country would rise” (Municipal Archives).
The generous donor died on June 4. The first stone of the town hall was laid on June 14, 1877 and the inauguration took place two years later.