90. — Afrique Occidentale (Sénégal)
DAKAR
Palais du Gouvernement Général
Western Africa (Senegal) — DAKAR — General Government Palace
Published: Edmond Fortier, 1920s
Postmark: possibly 1925
The Palace of the Republic, residence of the President of the Republic, is a historic manor located in the Plateau district of Dakar, capital city of Senegal. Built in 1902, the Palace used to be the official residence of the Governor General of French West Africa. The Palace, the construction of which was commissioned in 1902 by Gaston Doumergue, Minister of Colonies at the time, was initially built to accommodate the Governor General of French West Africa (AOF), who was living in Saint-Louis, in the capital. It was designed by Henri Deglane.
After five years of construction, this neoclassical building topped with a tower inspired by the Trocadéro in Paris, was inaugurated on June 28, 1907 as the Palace of the General Government. The Governor General at the time, Ernest Roume, was the first to take up residence in the Palace. He was charged to move the seat of the General Government of the AOF from Saint-Louis to Dakar, and to set up the central administrative structures of this sprawling territorial whole.
The Governors General, then the High Commissioners were designated as heads of the Palace. As architecture and technology evolved over time, the building underwent several renovations giving it its current shape with monumental and understated lines.
Presidency of Senegal
Afrique Occidentale Française — 13 — DAKAR — Le Palais du Gouverneur Général
French Western Africa — DAKAR — Governor-General’s Palace
152.- Afrique Occidentale (Sénégal)
DAKAR. – Palais du Gouvernement vu de l’Anse Bernard
Government palace from the cove.
Published: Edmond Fortier, 1920s
Postmark: possibly 1925