PREFECTURE

This plot, located away from the urban center, was donated by Governor Houël to the Jesuits in 1650. When the Jesuit order disappeared, a military hospital was built here in 1763, later replaced by an infantry barracks (Caserne d'Orléans, in honor of the Duke of Orléans) in 1830. Following the devastating cyclone of 1928, the French government commissioned architect Ali Tur to build a residence and offices for the governor in 1932. It was inaugurated in 1935 under the name of Palais d'Orléans or Palais du Gouverneur, in order to host the celebrations marking the tercentenary of the Antilles' attachment to France at the end of 1935 and beginning of 1936. With the departmentalization law of March 19, 1946, the buildings belonging to the colony were transferred to the Conseil Général, which became the Conseil Départemental. On October 11, 1947, the last governor was replaced by the first prefect. In 1951, the building became the headquarters of the Guadeloupe Prefecture. Since that date, the prefect has had a prefectural residence in another building on the heights of Saint-Claude.

The Prefecture building, like other government buildings, is undergoing a seismic retrofit to meet current standards, given the high seismic risk in the archipelago. A budget of 20 million euros has been committed to the project, which is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2024.