Adresse:Lycée des Pontonniers (Strasbourg)/en

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Date de construction	1740
Structure	Caserne
Date de démolition	1890
Date de construction	1903
Architecte	Johann-Karl Ott;
Verrier d'art	Auguste Cammissar;
Structure	Ecole
Courant architectural	Alsacien (colombage); Néogothique; Néo-Renaissance; Art nouveau;
Date de ravalement	2010
Inscription à l'Inventaire Supplémentaire des Monuments Historiques	5/4/2002
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1 rue des Pontonniers

Image principale

The Pontonniers International Highschool

The Pontonniers international highschool was originally a school for young girls (höhere Mädchenschule). Architect Johann Karl Ott based his design on using parts of buildings demolished to make way for the Grande Percée urban development and on integrating Gothic and Renaissance influences. The building is spacious and well constructed, and fully in tune with contemporary educational and hygiene standards. The lycée has now become an international school. It was built on the site of a barracks used from 1789 to 1870 for housing the engineers unit famous for their heroic actions on 26 November 1812 in the frozen waters of the Bérézina[1].

Barracks of the Pontonniers[2]

Date	1740

At this location, the barracks of the Pontonniers were built in 1740 on a part of the land that the city had once ceded from a company of crossbowmen[3]. The Pontonniers were a military engineering group specialized in bridge construction.

Barracks of the Pontonniers

Demolition

Date	1890

After having obtained the authorization of Emperor Wilhelm, the municipality demolished the barracks of the Pontonniers in 1890 and built a secondary school for girls.

The 1899 plan with the location of the barracks

Former municipal school for young girls, now Lycée International des Pontonniers

Date	1903
Architect	Johann-Karl Ott
Glass maker	Auguste Cammissar

Context and description of the buildings

Already before the annexation of 1871, there were already several institutions in place dedicated to the education of girls, while others were created from that time on. The forerunner of the municipal school for girls, the “Höhere Mädchenschule”, existed since 1875 and was located in the rue des Ecrivains. It was moved to the new building in the rue des Pontonniers in 1902.[4]

From 1900 to 1903, the German architect Johann-Karl Ott[5], who had become the city’s chief architect, designed a picturesque building next to the Ill river. It was rich in historicist references and respected the request made by the Alsace-Lorraine rectorate to conform to the 15th century style of Strasbourg.[6] Thus, Ott’s project refers to major architectural works from the history of the city. This includes the Pfalz, the former town hall, by using a similar composition as well as a corner turret and gables with redents. Yet it also refers to the military fortifications of Specklin. The oriel of the teacher’s room is a copy of the oriel from the house located at 22 rue des Serruriers.[7]

The half-timbered house on the right in the main photograph, is part of the school complex. It was the house of the school’s principal. Ott actually incorporated many parts of a house that was built in 1587 and dismantled in 1902, called Katzeroller, formerly located at rue des Pucelles or located at 2 rue du Parchemin. The house’s frame as well as its decorative woodwork were saved. A representation of the house, in the form of ceramic tiles, can be seen on the back of the portal of the teachers’ entrance. The principal’s house has elements of the neo-Renaissance style, such as the front door and the three-sided oriel on the street.

In January 1903, the “Höhere Mädchenschule” (or Töchterschule) was opened with ten classrooms.[8] On the website of the Lycée des Pontonniers, it falsely attributes the building to Gustave Oberthur. However, it seems that the error results from a mix up with a building located at 3 rue des Pontonniers, which was designed in 1903 by the architect Gustave Oberthur.

In any case, the project elaborated by Johann-Karl Ott fits into an educational policy aimed at deepening Germanization, while also valorizing Strasbourg’s architecture, in an approach that could be described as patrimonial.[9] The “richness of the cultural memory of this school building”, now the Lycée International des Pontonniers, is undeniable.[10]

View on the high school in spring
Another view on the high school in spring
View from the side of the high school
High school on the left, principal’s house on the right
High school with the principal’s house on the right
The high school from the teachers' entrance with the classrooms on the left and the principal’s house on the right
The principal’s house
Taken from quai Lezay Marnesia (Strasbourg)
Street facade of the principal’s house
Detail of a sculpture

Winter view of the Pontonniers International High School and part of the Esca building (winter 2008), from the Saint-Etienne.

Interior

Just as the exterior of the building and its finishing touches combine Renaissance, Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau elements, the interior of the building also shows great care in decoration and draws on the local picturesque. The iconography is inspired by local history and legends. For example, in the gymnasium, which used to be mainly a festival hall, and which possessed a large stained glass window by Auguste Cammissar depicting the daughter of the Nideck giant[11] and a painting by Carl Jordan depicting the “Schwörtag”[12] ceremony in front of the cathedral. The festival hall was decorated with a neo-Gothic ceiling. This magnificent setting was used for the awarding of diplomas of excellence and accounted as a beautiful testimony to Alsatian art.[13][14] A new gymnasium was built in the 1950s along the Ill.

See the “News” section for more pictures.

Interior of the gymnasium, approximately 1910
Auguste Cammissar’s glass roof in the gymnasium (now destroyed)
Neo-Gothic door decorated with pinnacles
Interior of the teachers’ lounge, whose staircase was originally wood-colored. Unfortunately, the paintings by local artist Schnug that once adorned the walls have been lost forever

Historical Monument Inscription[15]

Date	05/04/2002

Lycée International des Pontonniers: facades, roof, walls and wrought iron fence (excluding the gymnasium); inside: corridors with their floors and entrance doors to the rooms, main staircase and stairwell in its entirety, secondary staircase, teachers' room and teachers' library on the second floor. Principal's house: facades and roofs; inside: vestibule and entrance hall, staircase, stairwell and landing on the second floor, with their original woodwork, including the cupboards of two rooms on the street of the second floor (cad. 26 27/19, 35/19): inscription by decree of 5 April 2002.

Other views on this address

Taken from quai Lezay Marnesia (Strasbourg)
Taken from rue des Pontonniers (Strasbourg)
Taken from quai Lezay Marnesia (Strasbourg)

Views taken from this location

View on Eglise Saint Etienne (Strasbourg)

References

↑ , traduction de la Ville de Strasbourg

Bibliography

Internal links

3 rue des Pontonniers, a site written by other architects, an integral part of the Lycée des Pontonniers

External links

International School of Pontonniers -Official Website

"La préservation de l’image de la ville à Strasbourg aux prémices du XXe siècle...", by Sophie Eberhardt, in Histoire urbaine 2016/1 (n° 45)

"Strasbourg à l'heure allemande", on Connaissance des arts