According to a widespread urban legend, but which is to date not supported by any reliable source, three friends Auguste Perdonnet, William Haldimand and Charles de Cerjat made a bet around 1823: that of building in Lausanne the romantic tower more convincing. William Haldimand's picturesque ruin would have won the competition.
In reality, the Perdonnet tower, located in the Mon-Repos park, was built in 1821-1822 according to a project by the Geneva painter Pierre-Louis Bouvier1. It predates the two other Lausanne towers by nearly ten years, namely the Haldimand Tower, which its owner had built around 1830 only in Ouchy in Denantou, at the mouth of the Vuachère, and the one (disappeared) erected by de Cerjat in Rovéréaz, north of the city, also in the 1830s2.
The Haldimand tower, with walls of molasse blocks on a tuff base, was originally built east of the mouth of the Vuachère, therefore on the territory of Pully. In 1901, it was moved to its current site, following the filling in, towards the lake, of the western bank of the river during the construction of the Quai d'Ouchy. Long hidden in a thick mantle of ivy, it was stripped bare and crowned with concrete during its restoration in 1999-2001.