town hall of Saint-Apollinaire

The town hall of Saint-Apollinaire occupies the buildings of a former fortified manor in the commune of Saint-Apollinaire, in the Côte-d'Or department just outside Dijon. It's an unusual case: a working municipal office housed in a listed historic monument that spent centuries in the hands of Burgundian noble families before the town took it over.

What was here before the town hall?

The site's story starts in the 15th century with a motte fossoyée — a raised, moated mound typical of minor Burgundian fiefs. In 1474, the landholder was Pierre Baudot, a law graduate, who is recorded as owning "a motte dug around with a moat" along with a barn, a dovecote, and judicial rights over local residents. That combination — earthwork, moat, working farm buildings — formed the base on which the later stone structure was built.

Who built the square tower that still stands?

Ownership passed to the Tabourot family at the start of the 16th century. By 1513, Pierre Tabourot is recorded as holding a square stone tower here, solid enough to be described as capable of withstanding a siege. The Tabourot family kept the property until 1718, over two centuries during which the site took on the defensive form still visible today.

The fullest early description comes from 1610, when the Jesuit Étienne Martellange sketched the building as a "donjon carré d'architecture féodale" — a square keep in feudal style, topped with a long pyramidal roof of glazed tiles, ringed by machicolations, and flanked by four small corner turrets (échauguettes) with a slender spire. The hexagonal dovecote still standing in the courtyard dates from 1553 and is one of the complex's original elements, alongside the moat and the site of a drawbridge that was later removed in the 18th century.

What happened to the property after the Tabourot family?

After the Tabourot line ended its ownership, the estate passed to a religious community — nuns of the Refuge order are recorded there in 1731. In 1763, Pierre Baudot, a doctor of medicine and descendant of the earlier Baudot owners, bought the fief back from the Ursuline nuns for 500 livres. Ownership changed again in the 19th century: the Champy family held the property from 1856 to 1912.

How did the manor become a town hall?

Private ownership ended in 1931, when the estate was sold at auction and acquired by the commune of Saint-Apollinaire, which converted the former fortified residence into its municipal offices. The building's heritage value had already been formally recognised a few years earlier: a decree of 26 October 1927 listed it on the supplementary inventory of historic monuments.

What can visitors actually see today?

From the outside, visitors can view the square ashlar-stone tower, the traces of the moat that once surrounded the original motte, and the hexagonal dovecote of 1553 in the courtyard — one of the best-preserved parts of the original complex. Because the building is a working town hall, access to the interior is limited to office hours.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the town hall of Saint-Apollinaire located? In the commune of Saint-Apollinaire, in the Côte-d'Or department, right next to Dijon.

Is the town hall building a protected monument? Yes. The former manor was listed on the supplementary inventory of historic monuments by a decree dated 26 October 1927.

Since when has the building served as the town hall? The commune bought the property at auction in 1931, and it has served as the town hall ever since.

What parts of the original fortified manor survive today? The square stone tower, remnants of the moat, and the hexagonal dovecote built in 1553, still standing in the courtyard.

Who owned the estate before the town took it over? The Baudot and Tabourot families in succession (1513–1718), then a religious community, the Baudot family again from 1763, and the Champy family from 1856 to 1912.