Préfecture de Chaumont

The Haute-Marne département was created on March 4, 1790, with Chaumont as its capital on June 22, 1790. The building housing today's prefecture was built on the initiative of Préfet GIRARD de VILLESAISON, and the architect DESCAVES drew up the plans in 1856. Built during the Second Empire (1859-1862), this imposing structure features alternating brick and stone quoins, with the façade turned away from passers-by, the actual façade facing the garden. The architecture features a number of elements typical of the Second Empire period: steeply pitched slate roofs (a la Mansart), a facade with a stone frame and brick infill, storey bands, harpooned cornices and corner chains, a central pediment, scrolled dormers...