Pursuant to a decree of the Constituent Assembly of December 22, 1790, the province of Flanders officially became the Department of Nord on March 4, 1791, with Douai as its capital.

However, the premises turned out to be unsuitable and the prefecture was established in 1826 in a large building on rue Royale (today the Bishop's Palace).

Construction took place over several years and it was in 1872 that the Hôtel de la Préfecture was completed and the General Council sat there for the first time.

In 1932, part of the services of the General Council was annexed to the corner of Boulevard de la Liberté and Rue Baptiste-Monnoyer.

[10] The latter was raised on rue Gustave-Delory in 1982,[11] in the wake of' the first decentralization laws which entrusted the administration of the general council to an elected president.