It is a project of 1.5 million euros, financed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to rehabilitate the building which had not seen any work since 1920.
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It is an emblematic building in the history of Montpellier: the Hôtel Saint-Côme. The headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, whose primary vocation was medicine, needs major rehabilitation work. “We have about 2000 visits per year and the fact of completely renovating it will give new meaning”, assures André Deljarry, President of the CCI of Hérault. The work will end in October 2022. The CCI remains open to the public throughout this time.
The Hôtel Saint-Côme was built from 1751 to 1757 by the architect Jean-Antoine Giral, identical to the Saint-Côme amphitheater in Paris. A decree of 1794 unites the school of surgery and the school of medicine within the University of Medicine. The building was abandoned until 1801, when the CCI of Montpellier moved there. 300 years after its foundation, the restoration of the building is a real challenge. “The building was built with stones of three different origins extracted at the gates of Montpellier, these are quarries which today are no longer exploited so we have determined substitute stones which have the same characteristics”. explains Frédéric Faure, heritage architect. These stones were finally found in the Vaucluse.
The facades and the stairwell will undergo a makeover, the joinery will all be replaced to insulate the place. A total of 1.5 million euros has been invested in its restoration. A sum financed by the Chamber of Agriculture and Industry of Hérault.
Financed by François de Lapeyronie, the Saint-Côme amphitheater is known as one of the cradles of surgery. “Here was the dissecting room with the students who were set up around it and behind it is just the ‘leg-cut’ street simply because once you dissected the bodies you had to get rid of the limbs”, explains Michel Kaufmann, account manager at the CCI. The facade will be cleaned, the stairwell and the dome redone and the joinery changed.