Charles Antoine Letrosne (5 April 1868 – 9 August 1939) was a French architect and writer known as the author of the influential three-volume ''Murs et toits pour le pays de chez nous'' (1923.

Life

Charles Antoine Letrosne was born on 5 April 1868 in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. His parents were Paul Ernest Letrosne (1827–1902), an architect and professor at the

École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ÉnsAD, also known as Arts Decos', École des Arts Décoratifs) is a public grande école of art and design of PSL Research University. The school is located in the Rue d'Ulm in Paris. Profi ...

, and Augustine Marin (1825–1884). He also became an architect. On 27 May 1895 he married Caroline Geneviève Jenny Penicaud (1874–1925). They had two boys and two girls. The boys, Daniel Paul Raoul Letrosne (1896–1941) and Guy (Guillaume) Letrosne (1908–88) both became architects. Charles Letrosne was made Chief Architect of Civil Buildings and National Palaces. He was an officer of the Legion of Honor. He died on 9 August 1939 at Le Val Martin,

Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche () is a wealthy commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. History Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche was built around 4 core hamlets near the Forest of Marly. The village takes its name ...

, Yvelines, Île-de-France at the age of 71.

Work

Letrosne designed the Temple protestant de Reims in a

flamboyant Flamboyant (from ) is a form of late Gothic architecture that developed in Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, from around 1375 to the mid-16th century. It is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-tr ...

neo-Gothic style influenced by

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (; 27 January 181417 September 1879) was a French architect and author who restored many prominent medieval landmarks in France, including those which had been damaged or abandoned during the French Revolution. H ...

. It was modeled on the ''Temple de l'Étoile'' in Paris. The layout is that of

Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...

, which is unusual in a church built for Protestants. The foundation stone was laid on 23 October 1921, and the temple was dedicated on 24 June 1923. Letrosne was the co-designer (with his son Daniel) of the

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...

in the

Bois de Vincennes The Bois de Vincennes (), located on the eastern edge of Paris, is the largest public park in the city. It was created between 1855 and 1866 by Emperor Napoleon III. The park is next to the Château de Vincennes, a former residence of the King ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

in 1934. He was the first chief architect of the Paris World Exhibition of 1937.

Publications

References

Sources

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