Jean-François Chalgrin

Jean-François Chalgrin (; 1739 – 21 January 1811) was a French architect, best known for his design for the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

Biography His neoclassic orientation was established from his early studies with the prophet of neoclassicism Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni and with the radical classicist Étienne-Louis Boullée in Paris and through his Prix de Rome sojourn (November 1759 – May 1763) as a pensionnaire of the French Academy in Rome. His time in Rome coincided with a fervent new interest in Classicism among the young French pensionnaires, under the influences of Piranesi and the publications of Winckelmann.

Returning to Paris, he was quickly given an appointment as an inspector of public works for the city of Paris, under the architect Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux, whose own time at the French Academy in Rome had predisposed him to the new style. In this official capacity he oversaw the construction of Ange-Jacques Gabriel's Hôtel Saint-Florentin in the rue Saint-Florentin, where Chalgrin was able to design the neoclassical gateway to the cour d'honneur.

After the Revolution Chalgrin extended the Collège de France and made alterations in the Palais du Luxembourg to suit it to its new use as the seat of the Directoire. 1767–1770: Hôtel de Mademoiselle de Luzy (Paris, rue Férou). 1774–1780: Additions to the Collège de France (Paris, rue des Écoles). Completed 1775: Construction of Claude Nicolas Ledoux's designs for dwellings at Versailles for Madame du Barry and the comtesse de Provence. 1777–1780: Restoration of the façade and rebuilding the north tower of Saint-Sulpice (Paris). Completed 1778: Hunting lodge, "Rendez-vous de chasse de la Faisanderie" for the comte de Provence (Étiolles, Département Essonne). Completed 1778: Chapelle du Saint-Esprit (Paris, rue Lhomond). 1780: Ancienne Laiterie de Madame (Versailles, 2 rue Vauban). Completed 1780: Music pavilion for the comtesse de Provence (Versailles, 111 avenue de Paris). 1774–1784: Église Saint-Philippe-du-Roule (Paris). Completed 1785: Pavilion and jardin à l'anglaise "Parc Balbi" (Versailles); destroyed 1798. 1799–1805: Works at Palais du Luxembourg, the grand staircase and the "Salon des Messagers d'État" (Paris). 1806–1811; completed after Chalgrin's death, in 1836: Arc de Triomphe, Place de l'Étoile (Paris). Completed 1807: Restoration of the Théâtre de l'Odéon (Paris); burned 1818.

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