Alphonse Alexandre Defrasse (30 September 1860,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 18 March 1939, Paris) was a French architect; best known as the Chief Architect for the

Banque de France The Bank of France ( ) is the national central bank for France within the Eurosystem. It was the French central bank between 1800 and 1998, issuing the French franc. It does not translate its name to English, and thus calls itself ''Banque de ...

Biography

His father was a merchant. He entered the

École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

in 1877, where he was a student of Jules André. His first showing came in 1882, at the

Salon des Artistes Français The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

; obtaining a second-class medal. Three years later, his display there earned a travel grant.René Édouard-Joseph, ''Dictionnaire biographique des artistes contemporains'', tome 1, A-E, Art & Édition, 1930, Alphonse Defrasse2

He stood for 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 ...

three times; winning the Grand Prize in 1886 with a project for the "palace" of the

Court of Audit A Court of Audit or Court of Accounts is a supreme audit institution, i.e. a government institution performing financial and/or legal audit (i.e. statutory audit or external audit) on the executive branch of power. See also *Most of those ...

. He was in residence at the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...

from 1887 to 1890. With a stipend from the

Académie de France à Rome The French Academy in 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 1666 by Louis XIV under the direc ...

, he travelled to Greece, where he made studies of various structures at the Sanctuary of Asclepius in

Epidaurus Epidaurus () was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: ''Palaia Epidavros'' and ''Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to the new municipality of Epi ...

. They earned him a medal of honor at the Salon in 1893 then, two years later, were published in a book, with explanatory text by the art historian, He briefly served as an then, in 1898, was named Chief Architect for the Banque de France; a position he held until his retirement in 1936. In response to a law of 1897, requiring the Banque to have a branch in the capital city of every Department, his first major project involved creating a standard plan for those branches, which was utilized over twenty times. During his years with the Banque, he also executed a few private commissions for mansions, in and around Paris. He was awarded a Grand Prize at the Exposition Universelle of 1900, for his layout of the inner courtyard at the

Petit Palais The (; ) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the Exposition Universelle (1900), 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...

. From 1906, he directed a free workshop at the École. In 1928, he was elected to the

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

, where he took Seat #2 for architecture; succeeding

Alexandre Marcel Alexandre Marcel (11 September 1860 - 30 June 1928) was a French architect, best known for his Belle Époque interpretations of "exotic" international architectural styles. Marcel studied at the Parisian École des Beaux-Arts in the atelier of ...

(deceased). In his later years, his projects included new facilities for the interior of the Hotel Gaillard (1921), underground rooms at the Banque's headquarters (1925–27), and work on the hospital in

Juvisy-sur-Orge Juvisy-sur-Orge (, literally ''Juvisy on Orge'') is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located southeast of Paris and a few kilometres south of Orly Airport. The city is known for Gare de Juvisy, ...

(1932). A collection of his plans for projects that were never realized is being preserved by the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

His project for the Palais Central
@ the Musée d'Orsay website Altar and statue of temple of Aesculapius at Epidaurus Wellcome L0016950

References

External links

Works by Defrasse
@ the

Base Mérimée The ''Base Mérimée'' () is the database of French monumental and architectural heritage, created and maintained by the French Ministry of Culture. It was created in 1978, and placed online in 1995. The database is periodically updated, and conta ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Defrasse, Alphonse 1860 births 1939 deaths École des Beaux-Arts Banque de France Architects from Paris Prix de Rome winners Members of the Académie des beaux-arts

Biography

References

Further reading

External links