The Vauquelin Chapel

In 1783, the plans of the Rouen architect Bernard Vauquelin were adopted for the construction of this chapel on a site called "la petite prairie", covered with trees, lodges and small buildings, and whose portal was to face the Boulevard Martainville, today's Boulevard Gambetta. The clearing of this land to make way for the church will entail significant additional expenditure. Indeed, the total expenditure initially planned for 150,000 livres eventually amounted to more than 344,000 livres, mainly due to the poor quality of the land.

On 11 June 1785, the first stone was laid by Monseigneur de La Rochefoucault, Cardinal-Archbishop of Rouen and benefactor of the Rouen hospitals. Local historians have emphasised the architectural particularity of this chapel. Bernard Vauquelin, an admirer of ancient architecture, built it in stone, on a square plan, with the serene and uncluttered austerity of a Roman temple,

On the top of the façade, the three letters D.O.M. can be read (Deo Optimo Maximo, a Latin phrase meaning "To the very good and great God"). The tympanum remained undecorated, as it did not receive the work commissioned from the Rouen sculptor Marin-Nicolas Jadoulle but never produced. At the western end of the church, two square bell towers with openings and slate roofs stand. On 28 August 1823, a cockerel was placed on the right-hand bell tower, as recalled by the inscription engraved on the church portal.

The interior layout of the chapel is very well ordered but peculiar, due to the superposition of orders and the absence of chevets. On the perimeter of the nave, one can see tiers of tribunes supported by an order of large diameter Doric columns placed bare, without a base, on the pavement. Above, an order of Ionic columns is built, ending in an entablature.

It was on 25 March 1790 that Canon Papillaud, administrator of the hospital, delegated by the Cardinal Archbishop, presided over the dedication ceremony of the new chapel, which was closed in 1791 and not reopened for worship until 1801.

It was precisely in 1801 that the mayor of Rouen offered the hospital chapel the organ built by Charles Lefebvre between 1731 and 1732, which came from the church of Saint Nicolas d'Albane in Rouen.