Câmara Municipal de Lausanne

Hôtel de Ville de Lausanne / Town Hall, Lausanne
Overlooking the picturesque Place de la Palud from its bell tower, the imposing building of the Town Hall still houses the city administration. The Lausanne architect Abraham de Crousaz built it between 1673 and 1675 on the foundations of the hotels of the time. An important centre of life in Lausanne, it combined several functions: as a political place, it was both the seat and illustration of municipal power; it is an economic place, hosting the wheat market in its halls on the ground floor; a place of defence, the bells of its bell tower warn of danger.
Much admired since its creation, the Town Hall is the most interesting achievement of Vaud architecture of the 17th century. Its main façade offers a particularly subtle composition. While the alignment of the bays and their cornices creates a striking and explicit horizontal effect, the vertical axis marked by the sculptural portal and the tower is implicitly reinforced by the rhythm of the windows, which become increasingly closer together as they approach the centre, and by the rhythm of the arcades, which become increasingly narrow. The roof, on the other hand, takes up the aesthetics of regional farmhouses in its shape, completing an original silhouette with a provincial touch.
Text / Source: Ville de Lausanne, Department of Architecture and Housing, Department of Housing, Environment and Architecture, Rue du Port-Franc 182nd floor, Lausanne
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The small market in front of the town hall was built as early as the 9th century and gained in importance over time - a covered market hall is documented in the 14th century, which served as a warehouse, shelter for the merchants and as a weighing hall for the goods. It was on the so-called "Place Palud".
The large influx of people soon forced more space, whereupon - after a fire in the Palud district - a new market hall, partly made of masonry, was added in 1415.
This was used for public gatherings and was converted into the town hall in the late 15th century. The city council met there for the first time on January 24, 1469; La Palud became the administrative center of the city.
Today's town hall was built on the foundations of the previous building between 1673 and 1675 by the architect Abraham de Crousaz.

The present town hall was built on the Place de la Palud between 1673 and 1675 by the architect Abraham de Crousaz1, on plans drawn up by Pierre Rebeur2. If the floors of the building have welcomed, since their commissioning, the authorities and the communal archives3, the ground floor has, for its part, housed successively the market and the grain hall, then the firefighters' equipment. city from the eighteenth century, before being transformed into exhibition space of 225 m2 from 19534.

The building is surmounted by a belfry whose bells were used in case of danger. It overlooks the roof which, in its shape, is reminiscent of the traditional farms of the region5. The entire building is listed as Swiss cultural property of national importance