In the 14th century, the merchants and other officials held meetings in the Salle aux Draps (cloth hall) on Place du Grand-Carrefour, before moving to the Hôtel-Dieu on Place du Marché-Neuf in the 15th century. The aldermen held their own monthly meetings in the Chambre de Ville (town chamber) "above the halls of the butcher and bakery" from April 1624: the town chamber was close to the Gros Horloge (great clock tower), and a gallery was subsequently constructed to connect the two buildings.[1]
In the 19th century, the town council moved to the Château des comtes d'Évreux (Castle of the counts of Évreux), a building which dated back to 1060.[2] Established as the ancestral home of the Counts of Évreux, it was seized by decree of the National Constituent Assembly of France on 2 November 1789.[3] The council acquired the building in August 1835 and started holding its meetings there from 1837.[4]
Following the death of a deputy mayor, Olivier Delhomme, who left a large sum of money to the town in his will when he died in 1874, the town council decided to demolish the dilapidated castle and to build a purpose-built town hall on the same site. A monumental fountain, sculpted by Louis-Émile Décorchemont, was unveiled in the centre of the site in 1882.[5]
Construction of the new building started in 1891: a large collection of Roman coins was unearthed during early excavation work.[6] It was designed by François Thierry-Ladrange in the Châteauesque style, built in ashlar stone, and was officially opened by the president of France, Félix Faure, on 25 April 1895.[7][8]
The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of 13 bays facing onto the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville (now Place du Général-de-Gaulle) with the end bays slightly projected forward as pavilions. The central section of three bays, which was also slightly projected forward, featured a flight of steps leading up to a segmental headed doorway with a moulded surround. The doorway was flanked by two segmental headed windows and the first floor was fenestrated by three tall mullioned and transomed windows. The central first-floor window featured a balcony and was flanked by a pair of Corinthian order columns supporting a frieze, a modillioned cornice and a large pediment containing heraldic shields. Behind the pediment, there was a tall mansard roof surmounted by a belfry. The wings and end bays were fenestrated by segmental headed windows on the ground floor, and by casement windows with cornices on the first floor. The first-floor windows were flanked by Doric order pilasters and there were dormer windows at attic level. Internally, the principal room was the Salle des Délibérations (council meeting room).[9]
Following the liberation of the town by American troops on 23 August 1944,[10] the chairman of the Provisional Government, General Charles de Gaulle addressed local people from the balcony of the town hall on 18 October 1944. He returned for a second visit, this time as president of France, on 9 July 1960.[11] A statue of De Gaulle by the sculptor, Romain Legret, was unveiled in front of the building on 18 June 2019.[12]
