Chalgrin, Jean-François-Thérèse (1739–1811). Paris-born architect who studied with
Servandoni and
Boullée, and worked for a while as Inspecteur des Travaux de la Ville de Paris (from 1763) under
Moreau-Desproux: he erected the Hôtel St-Florentin, Paris (1767–70), to plans by
Gabriel, but he was responsible for the Neo-Classical courtyard-screen, portal, and interior décor. An important
Neo-Classicist, he designed the
basilican St-Philippe-du-Roule, Paris (1768–74), in a severe
Antique style, much influenced by
Cordemoy,
Laugier, and
Contant d'Ivry. The interior has free-standing
Ionic columns defining the barrel-
vaulted nave, and continuing in a curve around the
apse, while the
Tuscan Order was used for the entrance-portico. The church was contemporary with similar buildings by
Potain and
Trouard.
Quatremère de Quincy praised St-Philippe in 1816 as a model for French architects to follow because it adopted the
Early Christian basilica and avoided
Baroque excesses. While working on St-Philippe, Chalgrin completed Servandoni's great Church of St-Sulpice, building the north tower (1776–8), changing Servandoni's unfluted proposals for the west front to a fluted arrangement, and carrying out other works, including the
baptistry and organ-case. He also designed several gardens, as well as the exquisite Pavillon de Musique, Versailles (1784), with its rotunda containing a
trompe-l'œil painting that suggests the room is set in a garden. He remodelled the Palais du Luxembourg, Paris (1787–1807), creating the impressive Neo-Classical Salle du Sénat and grand staircase (1803–7), and designed the enormous Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, Paris (1806), completed by
Blouet (1836), which has two main axes instead of just one, and is
astylar.
Bibliography
Builder (1980);
Gaehtgens (1974);
Gallet (1972);
Middleton & and Watkin (1987)