Albert-Félix-Théophile Thomas (11 August 1847 – 1907) was a French

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. Thomas was born in

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, and was a student of Alexis Paccard and Leon Vaudoyer at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

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. S ...

. He won the first

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 ...

in 1870, and became the youngest winner of the

French Academy in 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 ...

from 15 February 1871 to 31 December 1874. In 1875 he studied the Temple of Apollo at

Miletus Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...

. His study of the

Temple of Athena The Parthenon (; grc, wikt:Παρθενών#Ancient Greek, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek ...

Priene Priene ( grc, Πριήνη, Priēnē; tr, Prien) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city of Ionia (and member of the Ionian League) located at the base of an escarpment of Mycale, about north of what was then the course of the Maeander River ...

earned him a medal at the

Exposition Universelle (1878) The third Paris World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French, was held from 1 May to 10 November 1878. It celebrated the recovery of France after the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War. Construction The buildings and the fairgroun ...

. Thomas participated in the design and construction of the

Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...

in Paris from 1896–1900, particularly the west wing, which in 1937 became the Palais de la Découverte. He also designed and constructed the

Château du Grand Chavanon The Château du Grand Chavanon, also known as the Château de Saint-Hubert, is a historic château in Neuvy-sur-Barangeon, Cher, France. History The chateau was built for the Marquess of Borzas from 1893 to 1897. It was designed by architect Alb ...

, which was later owned by the president and later emperor of the Central African Republic,

Jean-Bédel Bokassa Jean-Bédel Bokassa (; 22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996), also known as Bokassa I, was a Central African political and military leader who served as the second president of the Central African Republic (CAR) and as the emperor of its s ...

. He died in Paris.

References

* Louis Auvray, ''Revue artistique et littéraire'', 1869, Paris : Aux bureaux de la revue, page 63. * André Gabriel, Tarek Charara, ''Guide de l'architecture des monuments de Paris'', Paris : Alternatives, 1998, page 281. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Albert-Felix-Theophile 1847 births 1907 deaths 19th-century French architects Prix de Rome for architecture École des Beaux-Arts alumni Architects from Marseille