Hôtel de Ville, Charenton-le-Pont

The Hôtel de Ville of Charenton-le-Pont features a tall, slender clock tower capped with a distinctive, flared slate roof that rises sharply above the surrounding rooftops. Built in eighteen ninety-seven, this town hall replaced an older, cramped structure that could no longer manage the affairs of a growing industrial suburb. Architect Jean-Marie Boussard designed the building with a grand stone facade, choosing an aesthetic that projected institutional authority for a municipality that was then rapidly defining its own local identity.