Lucien Hénault

Lucien Ambroise Hénault (Bazoches-en-Dunois, January 30, 1823 - Paris, January 30, 1908) was a French architect and academic, noted for building and designing several of the main buildings in Santiago de Chile in the mid-19th century.

Biography He was the son of François Denis Hénault and Marie Madeleine Doussain. Between 1844 and 1853 he studied at the Paris School of Fine Arts (École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts), at which he was an outstanding pupil, earning a medal for his project for a villa at Choisy in 1852. His mentor was the architect and professor, Louis-Hippolyte Lebas.

He was contracted by the Government of Chile on October 31, 1856, through his plenipotentiary minister in France, Manuel Blanco Encalada, to take over as official architect of the government after the death of fellow Frenchman François Brunet de Baines in 1855.

His first task was to continue with the construction of public buildings in the city of Santiago de Chile, such as the Municipal Theater of Santiago (between 1856 and 1857), the National Congress (from 1857 and interrupted in 1860)