Viollet-le-Duc

Cesar Daly

Delmaet et Durandelle

Robert Gordon

Robert Gordon

July 16, 1999 – September 18, 1999

One Nineteenth-century architectural firm set the design standard that made Paris the most beautiful city on earth: the Studio of Viollet-le-Duc.

This summer, ArchiTech is pleased to present a special exhibition and sale featuring design drawings from the firm of Viollet-le-Duc.

Dubbed the savior of Notre Dame for his exquisite restoration of the great cathedral, Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc led the firm that restored countless French churches and chateaux and rebuilt the Hotel de Ville in Paris. Viollet-le-Duc was appointed in the 1840s to head the Office of Historic Monuments. He restored Notre Dame fifty years after the French revolution nearly destroyed it as well as the cathedrals of Amiens and Saint-Denis, the cities of Avignon and Carcasonne, and numerous city halls and chateaux. He was awarded a medal by an international jury for his Lausanne Cathedral restoration designs at the 1872 Vienna World Exposition. He has become a verb in modern French, as to Viollet-le-Duc means to heavily restore an ancient structure.

Louis Villeminot worked as a draftsman for Viollet-le-Duc and became acquainted with France’s important architects and sculptors. From them he began collecting small drawings and sketches of their design work that he carefully identified and dated. Today, many of his cherished scraps of paper are to be found in museum collections of nineteenth century architecture. This entire exhibition of original nineteenth century drawings was acquired from his heirs.

Paris also features hand-colored etchings by contemporary architect Robert Gordon, Photographs of Paris by John Kimmich-Javier, and travel sketches and watercolors by Elizabeth Ockwell.