11.BELLERIVE-SUR-ALLIER (Allier) – Pigeon Shooting Building
The pigeon shooting building at Bellerive-sur-Allier belongs to a small corpus and has original and carefully designed architectural arrangements.
- Early 20th century (1901)
Historic Monuments Registration July 26, 2022 from the pigeon-shooting building.
© C.RAFLIN DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Pigeon shooting was practiced in Vichy from the 1880s, near the Lardy baths. In 1888, the president of Dieppe, Deauville and Nice offered his services to the city of Vichy for the organization of a large international shooting competition.
Two contests were held in the summer of 1888 on a field of the racetrack. The activity is moved in the 1900s in front of the Célestins, on the left bank of the Allier. The land is vast and walled. In 1901, the Vichy architect Antoine Percilly was commissioned to build a building to accompany this practice, in front of the firing field itself. The building was enlarged to the west a few years later. The competitions are organized in two periods between July 1 and August 25 and attract many fans of the sport, including international competitions, with prizes. The practice of pigeon shooting contributes to the attractiveness of the resort and appears, like golf, on advertising documents.
From 1937, it was moved to another site in Bellerive, Gannat Road, where shooting was practiced until 1980.
Its former site was used in the 1950s and 1960s by the Vichy Archery Company, and then was assigned to various sports practices. It was acquired by the agglomeration community in 1998.
It is a low building, very wide and shallow, built in bias compared to the Allier. Its entrance, in the centre, is marked by a monumental portal: two square turrets in front, covered in pavilion and pierced by long and narrow bays, frame a large door inscribed in a arched frame underlined by a brick frame. The rest of the facade is illuminated with small semi-square bays. The rear façade, facing the ground, is marked by its square posts supporting the eave and by the central part forming a recessed vestibule, open to the outside. Laterally, high and narrow doors give access to the different rooms (changing rooms...)
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