The central section of seven bays featured a wide flight of steps leading up to a seven-arch arcade; on the first floor, there was a row of rounded headed windows with moulded surrounds and keystones flanked by Doric order columns supporting an entablature, a cornice and a parapet.

The end sections of three bays each featured arches at basement level and were fenestrated by pedimented casement windows on the ground and first floors: they were surmounted by entablatures, cornices, parapets and mansard roofs.

In the ensuing melee, shots were fired and the Prefect of the Loire Department, Henri de L'Espée, was assassinated and a commune was declared, although the French Army eventually regained control.

[9] Meanwhile, a bronze statue depicting two nymphs at a fountain was designed by the sculptor, Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, cast at the foundry of André-Barbezat & Company, and installed in a niche at the rear of the building in 1874.

[10] Following the deaths of 925 local people during American aerial bombing of the area on 26 May 1944, the leader of Vichy France, Marshal Philippe Pétain, visited the town hall and spoke to the grieving crowd from the balcony on 6 June 1944.