Hôtel Pasteur, Neoclassical university building on place Pasteur, Rennes, France
Hôtel Pasteur is a Neoclassical building on Place Pasteur, east of central Rennes along the Vilaine, not in Thabor. Its main west facade is white stone on a two-metre blue granite base, with a rusticated ground floor, tall windows under alternating triangular and segmental pediments, and a dark mansard roof with dormers. Slightly projecting corner pavilions rise above the rest; the quai side carries medallions of Cuvier, Claude Bernard, Ampère, Fresnel, Descartes, Cauchy, Lavoisier and Dumas.
Construction began in 1888 under municipal architect Jean-Baptiste Martenot with Emmanuel Le Ray; the Faculty of Sciences moved in fully in 1897 and stayed until its transfer to the Beaulieu campus in 1967. The dental faculty then occupied the building from 1969 until it moved to the Pontchaillou hospital site in 2018. From 2013 Patrick Bouchain installed the Université Foraine on the upper floors, and a 15-million-euro rehabilitation completed in 2021 gave the building over to a nursery school, an Édulab and a project hotel.
On the quay-side wings, stone medallions carry the portraits of Cuvier, Claude Bernard, Ampère, Fresnel, Descartes, Cauchy, Lavoisier and Dumas. The choice of these names tied the building to the sciences taught inside it. Since 2013 the upper floors have hosted Patrick Bouchain's Université Foraine, and since 2021 the same entrance serves a nursery school, an Édulab and a project hotel.
The building now houses an early childhood school, a digital education lab, and spaces for temporary projects. Visitors can explore the site and discover the different activities that bring the palace to life.
The building's name comes from Louis Pasteur, though the sources do not record a direct link between him and the site. Since 2013 Patrick Bouchain turned the upper floors into the Université Foraine, a collaborative space for artistic and social projects. Since 2021 the same entrance serves a nursery school, the Édulab and an hôtel à projets.
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