ThoseSummer series – Places converted to Geneva (5/5)
Horses, cars of civil servants, to a place for all
The old merry-go-round of La Vieille-Ville has known everything, from hooves to bodywork. It is today a living space dedicated to the neighborhood.
Geneva, July 28, 2025. The old merry-go-round (Saint-Léger and Chausse-Coq streets) in old city.
Laurent Guiraud/Tamedia
- The former military merry-go-up of Bourg-de-Four presents a unique architecture in the Geneva Ville.
- He was used to run horses, but also as a garage and then parking.
- The historic building now hosts services for childhood and the community.
It is by going down the Place du Bourg-de-Four that tourists and Genevans discover its silhouette, at the corner of the Saint-Léger and Chausse-Coq streets. Its rounded shape is unusual in the tangle of the streets of Vieille-Ville.
The old merry -go -round has no architectural equivalent in the area. Its name refers to its first hours, when the space was designed to run the horses. Built in 1893 for the instruction of the cavalry, the place was used in training at trotting, galloping, aerobatics. It also occasionally hosted competitions and demonstrations open to the public.
Inside, a riveted metal frame, typical of engineering at the end of the 19th centurye century, supported the large hall. Prefabricated in iron, this structure could come from Eiffel workshops, according to certain indices noted in the archives, well qThe formal proof does not confirm it.
Army, then civil servants’ cars
After the horses, the building continued to belong to the Confederation and to be used for military purposes. It served in particular as a deposit, warehouse or even maneuvers or investigation site during part of the XXe century, before its transfer to the State of Geneva.
From the 1930s, engines replaced the hooves. The merry -go -round became a car garage, then, in 1950, a parking lot managed by the state, mainly used by civil servants working in the neighborhood.
In the 1930s, the places were less welcoming … occupied by the Garage du Bourg-de-Four.
DR
Classified in 1985 in the architectural census, the building was recognized as a witness typical of military architecture at the end of the 19th centurye century. A status that has strongly influenced more recent architectural interventions.
Return the merry -go -round to the neighborhood
At the end of the 90s, an idea resurfaced on the initiative of residents: to return this place to the life of the neighborhood. In 2001, the Association Un Merège pour tous (MPT) was born. Its ambition: to reinvent the use of this building in a social, cultural and intergenerational space in a district historically little endowed with public facilities intended for children and families.
But the challenge is as architectural as political. For more than ten years, MPT volunteers organize events, consult the inhabitants, challenge elected officials and patiently defend their vision of an open and shared place.
The merry -go -round, at the time he was devoted to cars of civil servants
TDG
In 2010, the city finally launched an architectural competition. The Estar office, installed in Geneva and Lugano, prevails with a subtle project: keeping the large hall and its original masonry, while adding contemporary zinc volumes, visible from the courtyard but discreet from public space.
Two years of work
Work start in 2014. Part of the concrete slab is demolished to find a variable level soil, closer to the original configuration. The historic masonry is consolidated, the metal frame is restored and the volumes in the roof are added without modifying the silhouette of the building. The site ends in 2016, after two years carried out from start to finish with the concern for heritage detail.
Inside, everything is now redesigned around two poles: a space for early childhood and another for neighborhood life (neighborhood house, multipurpose room, school restaurant).
Even the entrance courtyard, long reduced to a parking area, has been redesigned and vegetated. It allows easy access for strollers, wheelchairs and bikes.
“This conversion of former military equipment in a place of reception for childhood and the district marks an important stage in the history of the building,” wrote the service of monuments and sites in its prior study. An urban metamorphosis while continuity.
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