Autogare du Mans, Historical bus station and protected monument in Le Mans, France

Autogare du Mans is a pale grey concrete building at 20 avenue du Général-Leclerc, its symmetrical facade topped by a stepped parapet bearing the raised letters "AUTOGARE" and a tall rectangular tower. Below a flat projecting canopy, three bays hold glass doors and windows; a dark open bay sits to the left, a white relief panel to the right. Only the facade and its dome were kept when the rear was demolished.

The bus station was built in 1935 by the Société des transports automobiles de l'Ouest (STAO), the coach network of the Société centrale de chemins de fer et d'entreprise, which became the Compagnie générale des transports Verney (GTV) in 1990. It served as the sole arrival and departure point for interurban coaches of the Sarthe network until the multimodal station hub opened in July 2013. The facade and dome were listed as monuments historiques in 2008; the rear was later demolished for the Patio-Rivoli project, leaving 500 m² protected on the avenue du Général-Leclerc side.

The name Autogare, spelled out in capital letters on the stepped parapet, marks this as a 1935 coach station for the STAO network. The facade preserves its metal portal, though the original STAO cartouches are now empty. The building's protected status since 2008 covers only the facade and dome, a reminder of the compromise between preservation and later redevelopment.

The preserved facade stands at 20 avenue du Général-Leclerc, a short walk from the SNCF station. Only the street-side section survives, about 500 m², with the rear replaced by an apartment block whose entrance cuts into the composition. Look for the reinstalled left metal portal and the right one restored as openwork metal; the original "STAO" cartouches are missing.

Only about 500 m² of the original building survived: the facade on Avenue du Général-Leclerc and its dome, both listed in 2008. The rear was demolished for the Patio-Rivoli project, a block of thirty flats with an underground car park opening onto rue Auvray. The left metal portal was reinstalled and the right one regained its openwork metal look, but the "STAO" inscriptions in the original cartouches are missing.