1886 - The prison

In 1880, Léonce Dalléas, son of Antoine Dalléas owner since 1860, concedes the mansion to the City of Bordeaux. Invested by the morality and police service, the mansion then undergoes significant structural changes: the function of the rooms is reviewed, partitions are demolished, others added to restructure the spaces and some elements – fireplace, porch overlooking the garden – are destroyed. At the same time, a prison project is being developed on the site of the mansion’s garden. Completed in 1886, it is due to the architect of the Communal Buildings, Marius Faget. It is a vast quadrilateral provided on the street side with stone walls reinforced with chamfered boss chains. It is organized around a central axis, a corridor, and courtyards, two large and two small. This compartmentalization allows for the organization of its functioning into four distinct quarters, assigned to men, women, children and the head caretaker. The cells, small vaulted rooms in blonde stone, similar to those used for the construction of the mansion, are spread over the entire periphery of the quadrangle. The guards' accommodation and the reception of prisoners are located in the forepart of the prison, in the part of the building facing the mansion.

On the interior walls of the prison still appear today several hundred inscriptions and engraved drawings. Names of countries, people, sticks to count the days and boat drawings are all testimonies of time and dark periods of history. The Second World War is particularly sensitive, through the dates and a graffiti of a six-pointed star.