Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

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Eugène Viollet-le-Duc bigraphy, stories - French architect

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc : biography

27 January 1814 – 17 September 1879

Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (27 January 1814 – 17 September 1879) was a French architect and theorist, famous for his interpretive "restorations" of medieval buildings. Born in Paris, he was a major Gothic Revival architect. He was the architect hired to design the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty.

Notes

Architectural theory and new building projects

Design for a concert hall, dated 1864, expressing Gothic principles in modern materials; brick, stone and cast iron. Entretiens sur l’architecture Viollet-le-Duc is considered by many to be the first theorist of modern architecture. Sir John Summerson wrote that "there have been two supremely eminent theorists in the history of European architecture – Leon Battista Alberti and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc."

His architectural theory was largely based on finding the ideal forms for specific materials, and using these forms to create buildings. His writings centered on the idea that materials should be used ‘honestly’. He believed that the outward appearance of a building should reflect the rational construction of the building. In Entretiens sur l’architecture, Viollet-le-Duc praised the Greek temple for its rational representation of its construction. For him, "Greek architecture served as a model for the correspondence of structure and appearance." There is speculation that this philosophy was heavily influenced by the writings of John Ruskin, who championed honesty of materials as one of the seven main emphases of architecture.

In several unbuilt projects for new buildings, Viollet-le-Duc applied the lessons he had derived from Gothic architecture, applying its rational structural systems to modern building materials such as cast iron. He also examined organic structures, such as leaves and animal skeletons, for inspiration. He was especially interested in the wings of bats, an influence represented by his Assembly Hall project.

Viollet-le-Duc’s drawings of iron trusswork were innovative for the time. Many of his designs emphasizing iron would later influence the Art Nouveau style, most noticeably in the work of Hector Guimard. His writings inspired some American architects, including Frank Furness, John Wellborn Root, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Publications

Dictionnaire Raisonné de L’Architecture Française du XIe au XVIe siècle

, A. Morel editor, Paris, 1868.]] Throughout his career Viollet-le-Duc made notes and drawings, not only for the buildings he was working on, but also on Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance buildings that were to be soon demolished. His notes were helpful in his published works. His study of medieval and Renaissance periods was not limited to architecture, but extended to furniture, clothing, musical instruments, armament, geology and so forth.