Ry, Paul du

views updated May 21 2018

Ry, Paul du (1640–1714). Member of a family of French Huguenot architects. His grandfather, Charles (before 1568–after 1683), was related to and worked with de Brosse, and his father, Mathurin, was Court Architect in Paris. Paul trained with N. -F. Blondel, worked as a military engineer on the fortifications of Maastricht, The Netherlands (from 1665), and finally left France in 1685 after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He became Court Architect to Landgrave Karl of Hesse-Kassel (1670–1730), and designed the Oberneustadt (Upper New Town), Kassel, where other Huguenot refugees settled under the benevolent rule of the Landgrave. This modest and humanely scaled new town in Baroque and Classical styles had the octagonal Karlskirche (Charles Church—1698–1710) as one of its main foci. He also built the Gartenpalais (Garden Palace) and the Palace of Prince Wilhelm, and designed the town of Karlshafen, Hesse (1699–1720). His son, Charles-Louis (1692–1757), succeeded his father as Oberhofbaumeister (Chief Court Architect) and continued the development of the Oberneustadt, Kassel, designing the canal system (1739). All his buildings have been destroyed.

Bibliography

Colombier (1955);
Diffscheid (1983);
Gerland (1895);
E. Hempel (1965);
Jane Turner (1996)

Du Ry, Paul

views updated May 21 2018

Du Ry, Paul (1640–1714). See Ry.