ClasséHouse · protected 1984Résidence du premier Président de la Cour d'AppelPart of the building is protectedPhoto: Thierry Caro · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Caserne Lambert · Photo: U.S. Army · Public domain66historic monuments
History of Saint-Denis · Monuments historiques
66 historic monuments and a protected historic area since 2013
The Culture ministry lists 66 historic monuments in Saint-Denis: 11 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 55 inscrit (the second level). That’s 4.2 for every 10,000 residents, more per resident than 66% of compared French towns; the median compared French town has 2.5. The oldest date from the 17th century. We have photos of 47 of them.
Monuments historiques
66
4.2 per 10,000 residents
median compared town 2.5
median compared town 2.5
Classé
11
the highest protection
Inscrit
55
the second level
Oldest part
17th c.
of any listed monument
Homes before 1919
0.5%
median compared town 7.4%
In pictures
Saint-Denis in 47 photos
Nearly every classé monument, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
La Redoute BourbonClassé
Villa du GénéralClassé
Propriété MaureauClassé
Villa DeramondClassé
Muséum d'Histoire NaturelleClassé+42See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.
Protected area
Saint-Denis has had a protected historic area since 2013
Sites patrimoniaux remarquables on the Culture ministry’s list, with the plan in force.
| Area | Created as | Plan in force |
|---|---|---|
| SPR04-01 | AVAP October 26, 2013 | AVAP (heritage area rules) October 26, 2013 |
A site patrimonial remarquable protects a whole area rather than one building: inside it, building work follows the area’s own plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
The list gives no boundaries, so the map can’t show the area.
Map
Where Saint-Denis’ monuments stand
Every monument with a point on the ministry’s list; the larger, darker dots are classé.
ClasséInscritWithin 400 m of Cathédrale Saint-Denis
4 of 11classé monuments stand within 400 m of Cathédrale Saint-Denis, with 17 of the town’s 66 monuments.
Tap a dot to open the monument’s page: its record, photo and the monuments around it.
66 monuments by protection
11 Classé55 Inscrit
Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point.
Classé
11 classé monuments in Saint-Denis
Classé is France’s highest protection for a building, held by about a third of the monuments on the list. 4 of the 11 are protected in part only (a façade, a roof, a room). Each card opens the monument’s page.
ClasséPublic building · protected 1970Hôtel de la PréfecturePart of the building is protectedPhoto: Thierry Caro · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClasséMilitary building · protected 2018La Redoute BourbonPhoto: BENARD Teddy · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClasséHouse · protected 1987Villa DeramondPart of the building is protectedPhoto: David Monniaux · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClasséBarracks · protected 2007Caserne LambertPart of the building is protectedPhoto: U.S. Army · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Classé
ClasséChurch · protected 2005Eglise Notre-Dame de la DélivrancePhoto: Thierry Caro · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Classé
ClasséMonument · protected 1978Muséum d'Histoire NaturellePhoto: L’auteur n’a pas pu être identifié automatiquement. Il est supposé qu'il s'agit de : B.navez (étant donné la revendication de droit d’auteur). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Classé
ClasséInscrit
55 inscrit monuments in Saint-Denis
Inscrit is the second level of protection: the building is worth keeping, and any work on it must be declared.
All 55, A to Z
Ancien génie militaire et maison dite du Commandant d'ArmesAncien hôpital colonial Félix-GuyonAncien hôpital militaire, abritant aujourd'hui les services du Conseil général et de la préfectureAncien parc d'artillerie et maison dite du commandant de gendarmerieAncienne caserne d'artillerie abritant aujourd'hui Radio France Outremer (RFO)Ancienne léproserieAncienne maison des gouverneursAncienne poudrière transformée en chapelleAncienne prison Juliette-DoduAnciens magasins AubinayChapelle du couvent des brisesChapelle et Maison de l'Immaculée ConceptionChapelle Saint-Thomas-des-IndiensChâteau MorangeChemin dit des AnglaisCimetière du Père RaimbaultDomaine Bang, à DomenjodDomaine de BeaubassinDomaine de MontgaillardGare de La Grande ChaloupeGrand MarchéHôtel JoinvilleImmeuble construit par Jean Bossu, à l'angle des rues Félix-Guyon et Maréchal-LeclercImmeuble de la PosteImmeuble de négoceImmeuble, 42 rue La-BourdonnaisImmeubles de la Direction de l'Agriculture et de la ForêtInfrastructures ferroviairesJardin du Brûlé, situé au BrûléL'Ilet-à-GuillaumeLazarets de la Grande Chaloupe (également sur commune de La Possession)Les mausolées anglais et français, situés au lieudit La RedouteMaison Boyer-VidalMaison de M. et Mme Drouhet construite par l’agence BossuMaison dite BossuMaison dite Oudin, à Moufia-les-HautsMaison Fourcade, à La MontagneMaison GéryMaison HugotMaison Kalidas, plus connue sous la dénomination maison de la Banque de la RéunionMaison Raphaël Carrère, dite aussi maison BédierMaison TurquetMaison, 13 rue Sainte-AnneMaison, 18 rue Jean-ChatelMaison, 44 rue Jean-ChatelMonument aux morts de la Grande GuerrePalais RontaunayPavillon BadatPropriété de BoisvilliersPropriété PonamaSiège de la Société d’Équipement du Département de La Réunion (SEDRé)Statue de François Mahé de La BourdonnaisVilla Fock-YeeVilla RepiquetVilla Timol
4 more, named only by their kind
4 more are named in the list only by their kind: 3 houses (maisons) and 1 building (immeuble), most from the 18th century. The 4 with an address are in the list above, by it.
18th c.2
19th c.1
undated1
What’s protected
Houses and homes are the largest group in Saint-Denis
Each monument under the main domain Mérimée gives it.
Houses & homes30
Military & fortified7
Religious buildings5
Public & civic4
Tombs & cemeteries4
Bridges & engineering3
Shops & trade3
Industrial1
Houses & homes: 30 of 66 monuments (45%). 5 are religious buildings, 2 of them classé.
Mérimée files each monument under one main domain: a château with its chapel counts once. 9 have no domain on the list.
How old
How old Saint-Denis’ monuments are
Each monument once, by the oldest part the list dates.
Prehistory & Antiquity to the 4th c.0
Middle Ages 5th–15th c.0
16th to 18th century Renaissance to Revolution10
19th century 1801–190033
20th century and later since 190112
The oldest dated: Résidence du premier Président de la Cour d'Appel (17th c.). 11 monuments have no date on the list.
When protected
Saint-Denis’ list has grown since 1970
Monuments by the year they were first protected.
2007 · 6
1960198020002020
First protected, in 1970: Hôtel de la Préfecture. 6 were protected in 2007 alone. 22 have been added since 2011.
Age of homes
0.5% of homes in Saint-Denis were built before 1919
Main homes by when they were finished, beside the median compared French town (the tick).
0.5%
Before 1919
0.9%
1919–45
12%
1946–70
31%
1971–90
32%
1991–2005
23%
2006 on
Saint-DenisMedian compared French town
0.5% of its main homes were built before 1919; the median compared French town has 7.4%. More of them were finished between 1991 and 2005 than in any other period (32%).
INSEE, census 2023: main homes (résidences principales) only; second homes and empty homes aren’t dated.
Born before 1900
24 people born in Saint-Denis before 1900
The 20 best known on the line, and eight of them below.
Étienne-Jacques Ratiez
Joseph Desbassayns
Prosper de Greslan
Auguste Bosse
Pierre Amable de Sigoyer
Comte de Vernay
Édouard Hervé
Alphonse Féry d'Esclands
Jacques Hervé de Kerohant
Louis Brunet
Édouard Le Roy
Frédéric Maydell Legras
Ernest Le Clerc
Édouard Petit
Nancy Martel
Auguste de Villèle
Amédée Fraigneau
Lucien Gasparin
Georges François
Louis Cazamian
175017751800182518501875190019251950
ÉH
Édouard Hervé1835–1899 · French politician and journalist
LC
Louis Cazamian1877–1965 · French academic
ÉJ
Étienne-Jacques Ratiez1764–1829 · French soldier
JD
Joseph Desbassayns1780–1850 · French agricultural engineer
PG
Prosper de Greslan1796–1852 · French politician
AB
Auguste Bosse1809–1891 · French colonial administrator
PA
Pierre Amable de Sigoyer1817–1882 · French diarist
CV
Comte de Vernay1825–1871 · French photographer
Everyone born in Saint-Denis Birthplaces from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia.
Neighbors
Historic monuments in the towns around Saint-Denis
| Town | Residents | Monuments | Classé | Protected area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Denis | 155,634 | 66 | 11 | Yes |
| Sainte-Marie | 37,093 | 4 | 0 | — |
| La Possession | 36,568 | 4 | 0 | — |
| Sainte-Suzanne | 25,551 | 4 | 1 | — |
| Salazie | 7,268 | 7 | 2 | — |
| Le Port | 33,969 | 6 | 0 | — |
| Saint-André | 58,885 | 13 | 1 | — |
In brief
Saint-Denis in brief
Saint-Denis has 66 historic monuments, 11 of them classé, including Caserne Lambert. Cathédrale Saint-Denis sits at the heart of it all, with 4 of the town’s classé monuments within 400 m. The Mission Patrimoine has picked 3 of its monuments as heritage in danger to save, L'Ilet-à-Guillaume first, in 2021. Part of it has been a site patrimonial remarquable since 2013.
Of the 55 with a date, 33 come from the 19th century. The oldest is Résidence du premier Président de la Cour d'Appel, from the 17th century. Of the 24 people born here before 1900, the best known include Édouard Hervé (1835), Louis Cazamian (1877) and Étienne-Jacques Ratiez (1764). Otherwise the figures are ordinary: it has 66 historic monuments, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 40); and per resident it sits near the middle of compared French towns.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Monuments historiques. France protects buildings at two levels. Classé, the higher (about a third of the list), means any work needs the State’s permission; inscrit means work must be declared to the State in advance. The Culture ministry’s Mérimée base lists every protected building, and this page counts them.
- Partly protected. Many entries protect part of a building only (its façades and roofs, a staircase, a painted room). Each counts as one monument, like a fully protected one.
- Where a monument is counted. In the commune named on its protection, moved to today’s commune where communes have since merged. A monument listed for several communes counts in each.
- Sites patrimoniaux remarquables. Since 2016 France’s protected historic areas (the former secteurs sauvegardés, ZPPAUP and AVAP) share one name. Inside one, building work follows the area’s plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
- What isn’t here. Protected objects (furniture, organs, paintings), old buildings with no protection, UNESCO World Heritage listings and labels such as “Plus Beaux Villages de France” aren’t on this list, so this page doesn’t count them.
- No History Grade yet. Everything on this page is described, not graded: France’s History Grade isn’t built yet.
Questions about the history of Saint-Denis
How many historic monuments are there in Saint-Denis?
The Culture ministry lists 66 historic monuments in Saint-Denis: 11 classé and 55 inscrit.
Which monuments in Saint-Denis are classé?
11, among them Résidence du premier Président de la Cour d'Appel, Hôtel de la Préfecture, La Redoute Bourbon, Villa Deramond, Caserne Lambert and Cathédrale Saint-Denis.
How old are the monuments of Saint-Denis?
The oldest parts of its listed monuments date from the 17th century.
Is Saint-Denis a protected historic area?
Yes: part of Saint-Denis has been a site patrimonial remarquable since 2013.
When were monuments in Saint-Denis first protected?
The first in 1970, the latest in 2026.
How old are the homes in Saint-Denis?
0.5% of its main homes were built before 1919 (median compared French town: 7.4%).
France has no History Grade yet: this page describes, it doesn’t grade.
Sources: Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée base on POP (immeubles protégés au titre des monuments historiques), October 2026 · Ministère de la Culture, sites patrimoniaux remarquables, October 2026 · INSEE, census 2023 (main homes by build period) · Wikidata and Wikipedia (people born here) · Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata (photos of the monuments, each with its own credit and license) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 9, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.