The present buildings were completed in 1876. Notable alumni include Alfred Dreyfus, André Breton, Jean Anouilh, Daniel Hechter and Nicolas Sarkozy.

[1][a] Goubaux saw growth in industry, commerce, agriculture and applied sciences, and saw that parents wanted their children to be prepared for these occupations through special studies.

[1] Goubaux wanted to create a college for the sons of the prosperous middle classes, from whom would come the heads of the great commercial and industrial enterprises.

It would teach boys to understand their times, and to appreciate the great achievements of modern civilization, while also being aware of literature and the arts.

[4] The idea of vocational education, and of replacing study of the classics with courses in French, modern languages and science, was revolutionary.

The school was supervised by a board composed of the director, Prosper Gobaux, and six members of the municipal council.

[12] The École Turgot was a day school, mainly for the sons of small tradespeople, while the Collège Chaptal served children of more prosperous parents.

[13] An 1868 description said, With a large staff of well-paid professors and teachers, whose cost amounts to nearly 12,000l., this school now pays a surplus of over 8,200l.

Of these, three quarters engaged in trade, 7% in manual labor, 2% in the liberal professions, and the remainder went on the university in France or abroad.

A sixth year prepared students for the Polytechnic or other school that demanded advanced knowledge of mathematics.

[11] The college ran educational trips in the vacations where fifty of the top pupils were taken by a professor to visit an important center of industry or other interest, funded by the Paris Municipal Council.

[15] The Ghilde Les Forgerons (Guild of the Smiths) was founded in 1911 by a group of young activist intellectuals who were pupils of the Collège Chaptal and had a common interest in art.

[5] Before becoming the Lycée Chaptal in 1945, the municipal college was administered under a special statute, with highly qualified teachers, and included classes to prepare students for admission to the grandes écoles.

[21] Eugène Train designed a complex with three colleges – lower, middle and high – each arranged round a court.

The colleges were connected by covered galleries to shared facilities in the center including the refectory, gymnasium, drawing rooms and lecture halls for physics and chemistry.

It is over 100 metres (330 ft) in length, flanked by square towers, The decor includes multi-colored geometric brick patterns, serrated cornices, wrought iron work and carved reliefs representing Trade, Industry, Science and Art.

[5] The college was designated a historical monument in 1992 and is indexed in the Base Mérimée, a database of architectural heritage maintained by the French Ministry of Culture, under the reference PA00088868.