Formerly the inner gateway to the Château de Nogent, it was converted in 1783 into a place of justice with prisons and a jailer's dwelling. The street running from the porch to the tower used to be called "Rue de la prison". In fact, the current porch was the auditorium in 1783; the prisons and the gaoler's lodgings were built on the foundations and with the remains of the castle's old inner gate. The work took two and a half years to complete. During the Revolution, the Provost of Nogent took possession of the building and held his hearings there, hence the name "auditoire", then the seat of the "justice of the peace", a cantonal judicial body which, until 1958, judged minor problems and offences through conciliation.
With no architectural character or ornamentation, the building consists of a main body, flanked on either side by a pavilion that extends beyond it at the front and rear. On the ground floor, the central opening is marked by a basket-handle arch. The whole building has only one storey; above this is an attic topped by an ordinary roof. On the former Rue de la Prison, the building is extended on either side by two projecting buildings with rusticated stonework, typical of the 15th and 16th centuries; these were the two gaols.
Porche de la Justice de Paix
