François-Joseph Bélanger

François-Joseph Bélanger (born April 12, 1744 in Paris ; † May 1, 1818 there ) was a French architect and garden designer.

Life

After studying at the Académie Royale d'Architecture , Bélanger began his career in 1767 at the court of Louis XVI. as an employee and later head of Menus Plaisirs du Roi , an organization responsible for the organization and decoration of the court's events and celebrations. In 1777 he became the first architect of the Count of Artois , the king's brother, who later became King of France as Charles X from 1824 to 1830 . In 1777, together with Thomas Blaikie , he built the Parc de Bagatelle and the fully equipped and furnished Castle Bagatelle with its farm buildings, gardens, grottos, watercourses and flower beds in the Bois de Boulogne in just 64 days . He also worked on the decor of the Maisons-Laffitte castle .

For the banker Jean-Joseph de Laborde he worked as a garden architect in the park of the Méréville castle , but was relieved of his post as chief architect for this work after a short time in 1786. In particular, financial reasons were cited: Bélanger is said to have had the habit of spending without bills, which was unacceptable for the banker trained in bookkeeping. Although Bélanger was replaced by Hubert Robert , he still completed the construction of the round temple of the Piété branch .

During the French Revolution he was imprisoned in the Saint-Lazare prison.

Works

The Paris grain hall based on the work of Bélanger and Brunet

In 1811 he reconstructed the dome of the Parisian grain hall ( Halle au blé ), today's Bourse de commerce (trading exchange). The self-supporting wooden dome over the inner courtyard of the building, erected in 1783 by the carpenter André-Jacob Roubo , burned down in 1802. Bélanger and the engineer François Brunet created a new 40-meter-wide dome with a filigree network of cast-iron ribs and circular purlins . The dome is one of the pioneering achievements of the era from 1790 to 1870.

In 1813 he applied to succeed Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart for work on the Palais Brongniart , but did not get the contract.

François-Joseph Bélanger designed numerous residences for the aristocracy and Parisian financial world, was also responsible for the interior design of the Hôtel Baudart de Saint-James at 12 Place Vendôme and exerted a great influence on the design of the gardens of his era. He also designed some furniture, such as the luxurious console in blue marble, commissioned by Louise-Jeanne de Durfort, Duchess of Mazarin, which can be admired in the Frick Collection in New York .

From around 1780 Joseph Ramée was trained in Bélanger's studio , who later became an internationally active architect and landscape designer, who created remarkable buildings and facilities, especially in the Hamburg area.

Web links

Commons : François-Joseph Bélanger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• List of buildings by François-Joseph Bélanger in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French text)
• François-Joseph Bélanger. In: Structurae
• Literature by and about François-Joseph Bélanger in the catalog of the German National Library