This article takes as a case study a provincial city in an attempt to analyse the dynamics of location, creation and extension of the high schools of Metz, from the imperial high school to the current high schools, including those built during the annexation of the city to Germany (1871-1919), the remarkable extensions of the inter-war period, and finally the industrialised constructions of the “Trente Glorieuses”, the 30 years of post-war economic boom in France. This transversal reading of public buildings within a defined communal territory inevitably fits into a perspective between the local and the national, for example in the choice of the architects behind these constructions. Covering nearly two centuries, this article highlights the history of these buildings, emphasising the context of their construction and their evolution.