Ledoux, Claude-Nicolas

(1736-1806)

   architect

   Known for his highly personalized interpretation of the neoclassical style, Claude-Nicolas Ledoux was born in Dormans, Champagne. He studied with jacques blondel and, between 1754 and 1764, received his first commissions. From 1762 to 1774, he worked essentially on private commissions, but except for the hôtel d'Hallwy (1766), the majority of the mansions he built were destroyed during the various urban restorations of Paris. For his patron, Mme du barry, he built a pavilion at Versailles (1771-72), and he also built the Château de Bénouville, near Caen. in 1774, he began the construction of the vast group of statues at Arc-et-Senans, and in 1785 began his best-known project, the tollhouses for Paris, monumental buildings employing columns, porticos, and pediments of the classical Greco-Roman style, reduced, however, to simple forms. These unpopular structures (now much appreciated) were partially destroyed during the revolution of 1789. Ledoux conceived the theater at Besançon, where he introduced the innovative idea of a seating area for the public. Jailed during the Revolution, he dedicated himself to the editing of his theoretical work, L'Architecture considérée sous le rapport de l'art, des moeurs et de la législation, published in 1804. Quite imaginative, Ledoux helped to develop the elegant and measured Louis XVI style, while freely interpreting the classical orders.