Main post office in Lausanne
The main post office in Lausanne (ex Hótel des postes ) is the central post office of the main town of the canton of Vaud , Lausanne, and was built by the Swiss Federal Postal Administration in 1903 at a dominant location on Place Saint-François 15 in the Quartier du Bourg . It is located opposite the reformed Église Saint-François in one of the busiest squares in the city. The size and structural features testify to the importance that the postal administration attached to the new building. As in other Swiss cities, it changed the urban character of that time significantly. Due to its exposed hillside location, its back is also clearly visible from Lake Geneva . In addition to the post office, it also houses the customs administration.
history
The former arms office ( Maison Grenier ), inaugurated in 1803, existed as a predecessor building . The house had to give way to the increasing traffic, especially the passage of the tram. The successor building by the architect Eugène Jost , which was awarded in a competition , was opened in 1900 and won first prize in a renowned architecture competition. The original plan called for the construction of a tower for telephone transmission, which, however, in the opinion of the city of Lausanne, would have competed too much with the tower of the Saint-François church behind it.
The building has been rebuilt and renovated several times: 1920, 1936/38, 1940s, 1960/64 and 1974. The original construction plans and construction documents are still preserved, but difficult to read. The planned telephone tower can also be seen from these plans.
Architectural style
The building is entirely in the Beaux-Arts style, which was also appreciated in France. The core of the building is made of reinforced concrete; on the outside, it embodies eclectic historicism . With the use of white stone, Jost refers to the Renaissance castles of the Loire and emphasizes the high roof with chimneys and skylights, the architectural vocabulary with which the builder crowns his work in an ornamental manner.
The interior was also lavishly designed. Cast iron columns with and richly entwined garlands on the metal banisters as well as stucco coffered ceilings and ornamental bouquets on the walls characterize the picture. The representative rooms are structurally intact and in a good state of renovation. The building is part of the Swiss inventory of cultural assets (number 6198).
Web links
- Plans de l'Hôtel des Postes, Lausanne with cadastral extracts (PDF; 42 kB), Archives Cantonales Vaudoises
- Hôtel des Postes on the City of Lausanne website
Individual evidence
- ↑ DAVEL , Description of the archive canto dimensional vaudoises
- ↑ A – Objects VD 2018 . Swiss inventory of cultural assets of national importance. In: babs.admin.ch / kulturgueterschutz.ch. Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP - Department of Cultural Property Protection, January 1, 2018, accessed on December 26, 2017 (PDF; 166 kB, 35 pages, updated annually, the changes for 2018 are marked in blue).