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Théodore Ballu (8 June 1817 – 22 May 1885) was a French architect who designed numerous public buildings in Paris . He is the grandfather of the industrialist and politician Guillaume Ballu.


Winning the Prix de Rome

In 1840, Théodore Ballu won the
Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
. That year competition's final challenge was to design a palace for the
Chambre des Pairs {{Infobox legislature , name = Chamber of Peers , native_name = Chambre des Pairs , native_name_lang = French , transcription_name = , legislature = , coa_pic = Coat_of_Arms_of_the_July_Monarchy_(183 ...
. Ballu designed the Église de la Trinité and directed the reconstruction of the Hôtel de ville, the city hall building in Paris, after a fire destroyed much of the original building.. The young laureate then left Paris and boarded at the
Académie de France à Rome The French Academy in Rome (french: Académie de France à Rome) is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in ...
. He lived in the
Villa Médicis The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...
from January 1841 to December 1845. He visited the ruins of
Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...
and his third year there was dedicated to
Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was burie ...
. In 1844–1845, his projects focused on the Érechthéion de l’Acropole d’Athènes.


Architecture in Paris

Back in France, Théodore Ballu became an assistant to architect Franz Christian Gau on the Basilique Sainte-Clotilde construction site, then took charge after Gau's death in 1853. From then on, his career was much focused on his preference for religious buildings. In 1860, he was named chief architect of Parisian buildings related to the religion. He then designed the Église de la Trinité (1861–1867), the Saint-Esprit temple on Rue Roquépine, and the churches of Saint-Ambroise (1863–1869) and Saint-Joseph (1866–1875). He also directed the Saint-Jacques Tower restoration (1854–1858) and the construction of the Saint-Denis church in
Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department, the seat of the arrondissement of Argenteuil. Argenteuil is the sec ...
(1866). L’Eglise de la Trinité is very emblematic of his work because it demonstrates his extensive knowledge of various architecture styles, his passion for
eclecticism Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories i ...
, which was very popular at the time, his tendency to incorporate numerous sculpted or painted decorations and his in-depth knowledge of cost-efficient construction. The Trinité area became the architect's favorite place, where he owned several properties and even designed his home.


The Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois belfry

From 1858 to 1863, Théodore Ballu designed and created the belfry of the Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois church. The area had not yet been completely transformed by
Haussmann Hausmann is a German word with former meanings "householder" and "freeholder" and current meaning "house-husband." Hausmann (Hausman), Haussmann (Haussman), Haußmann, Hauszmann, etc. are German-origin surnames that may refer to: Hausmann * Cas ...
’s renovation of
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
. The ancient parish church of the
French monarchs France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the fir ...
was still concealed behind buildings that separated it from the
colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...
of the
Palais du Louvre The Louvre Palace (french: link=no, Palais du Louvre, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the ...
. In 1859, architect
Jacques Hittorff Jacques Ignace Hittorff or, in German, Jakob Ignaz Hittorff (, ) ( Cologne, 20 August 1792 – 25 March 1867) was a German-born French architect who combined advanced structural use of new materials, notably cast iron, with conservative Bea ...
began the construction of a new building in the north to house the city council of the 1st arrondissement, which reproduced a large part of the church’s facade and was inspired by
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
and
French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define th ...
architecture. File:La Tour St. Jacques La Boucherie à Paris ca. 1867.jpg, Saint-Jacques Tower circa 1867, restored by Ballu between (1854–58) File:Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois et mairie.jpg, The belfry of
Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois The Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois is a Roman Catholic church in the First Arrondissement of Paris, situated at 2 Place du Louvre, directly across from the Louvre Palace. It was named for Germanus of Auxerre, the Bishop of Auxerre (378-448) ...
(1858–63) File:Église de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris Face.JPG, Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris (1861–67) File:Jielbeaumadier eglise st-ambroise paris 2007.jpg, Église Saint-Ambroise, Paris (1863–69)


External links

*
Drawings by Ballu, on ''ENSBA''


* ttp://www.cosmovisions.com/Ballu.htm Cosmovisions* ttp://www.parisinfo.com/musee-monument-paris/71267/Tour-Saint-Jacques Paris Tourism Tour Saint Jacques {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballu, Theodore 1817 births 1885 deaths 19th-century French architects Architects from Paris Prix de Rome for architecture Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery École des Beaux-Arts alumni Members of the Académie des beaux-arts