List of French architects

This entry concerns French architects.

The following is a chronological list of French architects. Some of their major architectural works are listed after each name.

Middle Ages

Jean de Chelles (13th century)

• Notre Dame de Paris

Pierre de Montreuil (c.1200-1266)

• Notre Dame de Paris
• the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-prés
• Saint Denis Basilica

Matthias of Arras (?-1352)

• Saint Vitus Cathedral in Prague

Villard de Honnecourt (14th century) – architecture plans

Renaissance to Revolution

Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau (c. 1510-c. 1585)

• Important book of architectural engravings.

Philibert Delorme (or De L’Orme) (1510/1515-1570)

• Chateau d'Anet (c.1550) – for Diane de Poitiers
• Tuileries Palace (1564-1567)

Pierre Lescot (1515-1578)

• Hôtel Carnavalet (c.1545)
• Louvre (1546) – for François I and Henri II
• Fontaine des Innocents (1550) – carved by Jean Goujon

Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau (c. 1545-1590)

• Pont Neuf (1599) – for Henri IV

Jacques II Androuet du Cerceau (c. 1550-1614)

• Galerie du Louvre
• Pavillon de Flore (Tuileries)

Luxembourg Palace and Gardens

Salomon de Brosse (1575-1626)

• Luxembourg Palace (1615) – for Marie de' Medici
• St. Gervais church (facade) (1616)
• Blérancourt
• Palais de Justice in Rennes (1618)

Jean Androuet du Cerceau (1585-1649)

• Hôtel de Sully (1624-1629)

The Palais Royal in Paris

Jacques Lemercier (1585-1654) – active for Richelieu

• Palais-Royal (1632) – for Richelieu
• The city of Richelieu (from 1631)
• La Sorbonne church (1635) – for Richelieu
• Pavillon de l'Horloge (Louvre)
• St. Roch church
• Val-de-Grâce church (1667) – responsible for the construction

François Mansart (1598-1666)

• Château de Blois (1635-1638)
• Val-de-Grâce (plans) – for Anne d’Autriche (Anne of Austria)
• Château de Maisons (1642-1646)
• Hôtel Guénégaud (1648-51)
• Hôtel Carnavalet (1655) - remodel
• Hôtel d'Aumont - remodel after Louis Le Vau

Louis Le Vau (1612-1670)

• Apollo wing of the Louvre
• Hôtel Lambert (1640)
• Vaux-le-Vicomte (1656) – for Nicolas Fouquet; this was to be the prototype of the palace of Versailles
• Hôtel de Lauzun (1657)
• Château de Vincennes (1659) – for Mazarin
• Palace of Versailles – reconstruction, on the model of his Vaux-le-Vicomte, as a place of fêtes
• St. Louis-en-l'île church (on the Île Saint-Louis) (1664) - plans
• Institut de France – for Mazarin

Claude Perrault (1613-1688) – responsible for establishing French classicism

• Colonnade of the Louvre (1667-1673)
• Observatoire de Paris – plans

Libéral Bruant (c.1636-1697)

• Hôtel de la Salpêtrière (1660-1677)
• Les Invalides (1671-76)

Les Invalides

Jules Hardouin Mansart (Jules Hardouin; he adopted the name Mansart in 1668) (1646-1708) – responsible for the massive expansion of the palace of Versailles into a permanent royal residence.

• Palace of Versailles (from 1678) - Royal Stables, Orangerie, Grand Trianon, Chapel
• Palace of Saint-Cloud – for the Philip I, Duke of Orléans
• Château of Marly
• Domed chapel of Les Invalides
• Place des Victoires
• Place Vendôme
• Château de Meudon

Robert de Cotte (1656-1735) - brother in law of J.H. Mansart, whom he assisted on numerous projects

• Esplanade of Les Invalides

Jacques Ange Gabriel (1698-1782) – responsible for rococo constructions at Versailles

• Palace of Versailles (1735-1777) - Apartment of the king, Versailles Opera, Library, Petit Trianon (1762-1764)
• Place de la Concorde (Place Louis XV)
• École Militaire (1751-1775)

Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-1780)

• The Panthéon (called the Eglise Sainte Geneviève) (1756-1780)

Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728-1799)

Claude Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806) – famous for his mathematical neoclassicism.

• Farmers General Wall (1784-1791) – visible at the Place de la Nation and Denfert-Rochereau
• Hôtel d'Hallwyl (remodel)
• Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans (Les Salines Royales)

Revolution to World War II

Henri Labrouste (1801-1875) – famous for his use of steel

• Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (1843-1861)
• National Library

Victor Baltard (1805-1874) – famous for his use of steel and glass

• Les Halles centrales (1854-1870) – destroyed in 1971 to make way for a shopping mall.
• St. Eustache (church) – remodel
• St. Etienne du Mont (church) – remodel
• St. Augustin (church) (1860-1871)

Garnier's Paris Opera

Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879) – important theoretician of the 19th century Gothic revival

• Château de Pierrefonds – restoration
• Notre Dame de Paris – restoration
• the city of Carcassonne – restoration
• Saint-Germain-des-Prés (church) – restoration
• Saint Séverin (church) – restoration

Charles Garnier (1825-1898) – celebrated architect of the Second Empire

• Paris Opera (now Opera Garnier) (1862-1875)
• Theater Marigny
• Casino of Monte Carlo (1878)

Hector Guimard (1867-1942) – Art nouveau architect and designer

Auguste Perret (1874-1954) and his brothers Claude and Gustave – important for the first use of reinforced concrete

• Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

Robert Mallet-Stevens (1886-1945) – modernist architect influenced by Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) (1887-1965)

Eugène Beaudouin (1898-1983) – influential use of prefabricated elements

Jean Prouvé (1901-1984) – international style/Bauhaus inspired

Post World War II

Christian de Portzamparc (born 1944)

• La Villette - City of Music
• Café Beaubourg

Jean Nouvel (born 1945)

• Institut du Monde Arabe
• Fondation Cartier
• Torre Agbar, in Barcelona, Spain

Jean-Marie Charpentier

• Shanghai Grand Theatre

See also

• List of architects