Designed at the dawn of the 20th century, the Jeanne-d’Arc high school is the first high school for girls in Clermont-Ferrand. The building makes the very most of the land layout, and features an eclectic style with a blend of influences.
Jeanne-d’Arc high school is one of the finest examples of school construction from the Third Republic, an achievement of architect Jean-Joseph Teillard (1854-1915). Construction began in 1896 and was completed in 1899 in the new neighbourhood created when the Clermont-Ferrand’s train station was opened in 1855. First of all, it housed the girls whose education had been entrusted to nuns until 1880.
The high school had a U-shaped layout surrounding an interior courtyard closed by a gate that used to overlook the terrace gardens. The rational layout of the buildings depends on their intended destination (administration, student buildings, etc.) and their use (classrooms, dormitories, etc.). Its style is eclectic, its influences include Romanesque (semi-circular arches), Regionalist (materials), Byzantine (minaret) and Nordic (stepped gable). Its materials come in varied shapes and colours: brick, glazed brick, limestone for the supports, glazed terracotta for the decorative features and cast iron. Above the entrance door, on the Avenue de Grande-Bretagne side, the bust of Joan-of-Arc is the work of sculptor Henri Gourgouillon (1858-1902).
To the west is the former Petit Lycée for boys, an annex of Blaise-Pascal high school. It has been an integral part of Jeanne-d'Arc high school since 1950. In neo-Classical style, it is the last work of the architect François-Louis Jarrier, built between 1878 and 1880. Its H-shaped layout gives a façade on three levels, with an additional central wing housing the chapel. The walls are made from coated quarry stone and the corner quoins and window frames from Volvic stone. It is an example of a school built just before the Ferry laws in France (establishing free education then mandatory and secular education). It is inspired by a model evocative of the former Collège de l’Oratoire in Riom (17th century).
