HÔTEL DE LIVRON - HÔTEL DE VILLE

Hotel de Livron, Town Hall
The private mansion of Sieur Errard de Livron, which became the ducal residence and seat of the Bailliage, is the present Town Hall. It is a beautiful Renaissance mansion in its oldest part.
L'HÔTEL DE LIVRON : The de Livron family (a small town south of Valence, Drôme) arrived in Lorraine in the 16th century and settled in Ville-sur-Illon. The Duke Charles III appointed Errard de Livron as State Councillor, Grand Chamberlain and
superintendent of finance from 1586 to 1606. During these functions, he had a very beautiful Renaissance-style mansion built in Mirecourt around 1590, which resembles the Hôtel d'Houdreville in Neufchâteau dated 1594.
This beautiful building has kept its original facade with, on the street, the entrance door composed of a stone arch, flanked by finely decorated pilasters and supporting a rich entablature. This door was surmounted by a carved motif, bearing the arms of the Livron family or the full arms of Lorraine. When this motif was removed, a fifth window was opened. Inside, at the top of the stairs on the left, a beautiful Renaissance door
remains.
THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE BAILLIAGE AND THE RESIDENCE OF THE BAILLI : On April 21, 1603, the Sieur de Livron sells his residence
to Duke Charles III. It becomes the residence of the bailiff and the seat of the bailiwick of Vosges which extends to
the mountain. The building is referred to in writings as "Duke's Palace" or "His Highness' House".
Charles IV resided there permanently on two occasions, during the winter of 1633-34 after the surrender of Nancy, then after the Peace of the Pyrenees, in 1663.
THE TOWN HOUSE AND THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE BAILLIAGE: The town council was cramped from 1640 to 1734 in the left side of the church. In 1735, the council obtained from Duke François III, to assign it to the function of "Maison de Ville", the entire rear part of this building, for an annual fee of 200 pounds. From 1737
In 1790, the bailiwick hearings were held in the part of the building on the main street side. On the rear part, the municipal body meets upstairs in the great hall.
THE CITY HALL AND COURTS: During the Revolution, the district court was set up in place of the bailiwick court. When the criminal court of the Vosges department was created, the municipality ceded its premises to it on the first floor of its building and it moved to the ground floor until the court left for Épinal. The municipality then takes back possession of the first floor until the construction of the most contemporary buildings. In 1803, the commercial court took place on the ground floor of the common house. In 1842, the town obtained full ownership of its town hall from King Louis-Philippe. Two access galleries were added in the 19th century on either side of the inner courtyard to link the two main buildings. The town hall of Mirecourt is, with those of Neufchâteau and Rambervillers, or the Bailiff's House in Epinal, one of the most beautiful testimonies of the city's history
of the Renaissance period, in the Vosges.
Text Jean Paul Rothiot AVMR

DATAtourisme France