Hôtel de ville d'Aix-les-Bains, Historic town hall in Aix-les-Bains, France

The Hôtel de ville d'Aix-les-Bains occupies a former seigneurial castle on the Place Maurice Mollard. Its centre is a square tower of light grey ashlar with a steep dark pyramidal roof, two tall chimneys and paired shuttered windows; lower wings of rougher cream stone flank it, and "MAIRIE" is carved above an arched entrance on the right wing. The ground-floor ceiling timbers were dated by dendrochronology to 1400.

The Seyssel family, marquises of Aix, built the present logis around 1400, as dendrochronology of the ground-floor ceiling shows, after an earlier castle on the plateau was destroyed. Isabeau de la Roche Andry added the grand staircase at the very end of the 16th century. The town bought the building in 1866 and opened it as the mairie in 1868.

The building sits at the heart of civic life, where residents come daily to handle administrative matters and conduct official business. Its stone facade and Gothic details form part of the visual identity that locals recognize when navigating the town center.

The building is accessible during daytime hours through its main entrance, following standard opening times for municipal services. Keep in mind that this is an active administrative center, so visiting during quieter periods works best.

The grand staircase was built at the very end of the 16th century by Isabeau de la Roche Andry, when the Seyssel family was at its height, and it led up to a tiny chapel built at its top. It was listed as a monument historique in 1890, before the rest of the building in 1982.