The former Payenneville pavilion

In 1909, Doctor Joseph Payenneville (1877-1949) was appointed assistant physician at the Rouen hospitals, then after the First World War, head of the dermato-venereology department, which he combined with the antivenereal dispensary.

This service was to be cited throughout France as a model in the fight against what was then called "the venereal peril" against which Charles Nicolle was the first to crusade before his departure for Tunis in 1902.

On 10 September 1927, a new pavilion called the "prophylaxis dispensary and central serology laboratory" was inaugurated to replace the dilapidated Office 12, which had housed prostitutes since 1880. It was adjacent to the municipal health clinic which was then annexed to this new service. It was after the death of Dr Payenneville that it officially took the name of the Payenneville pavilion in 1949. It was razed in 1988 to build the new Derocque pavilion and the dermatology department was transferred to a building built in 1849 on the Leschevin courtyard.