François Henry Spoerry (28 December 1912 – 11 January 1999) was a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
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 ...
, developer, and urban planner that created the seaside town of
Port Grimaud Port Grimaud is a seaside town that forms part of the commune of Grimaud in the Var department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is located seven km () (four mi ()) west of Saint-Tropez and seven km () southwest ...
. He was an Officier of the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
and an Officier of the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
.
Early years
He was born in Mulhouse to a large, industrious family that had moved from Switzerland to Mulhouse in 1848 to start up a textile business. The family had a holiday home at Partigon. His parents were Henry Spoerry (1879–1966) and Jeanne Schlumberger.
Spoerry had three younger sisters:
Anne-Marie
Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer. She has attained charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's "Rockabye (song), Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm (Anne-Marie song ...
, a physician, aviator and adventurer,
Therese, and Martine.
After finishing school, Spoerry studied architecture 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 ...
,
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
in 1930. He became an assistant to
Jacques Couëlle
Jacques Couëlle (1902–1996) was a French architect, whose work was marked by the movement known as architecture-sculpture.
Biography
Jacques Couëlle is a self-taught architect. Uncategorised, he remains on the margins of major movements in ...
during the period of 1932 through 1934. He graduated from
Marseille
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 ...
's
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 ...
in 1943 .
During World War II, he used an architectural research project in
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
as a cover for working with the
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
.
In April 1943, he was arrested and deported to
Buchenwald and then
Dachau
,
, commandant = List of commandants
, known for =
, location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany
, built by = Germany
, operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS)
, original use = Political prison
, construction ...
.
Career
After the war ended, he opened his first architectural firm in Mulhouse where he associated with a significant number of reconstruction projects. In Mulhouse, he was the planner of the new town centre. He also built in Mulhouse the Tour of Europe, the largest structure in contemporary France whose top floor was a revolving restaurant. He also built several residential structures, including Wilson Tower (highest building in the city after the Tour of Europe), the Residence Clemenceau. Residence Pierrefontaine, and others. What is most significance about the work of Spoerry is that he broke with the first principles of Planning
CIAM while rediscovering the principles of a dense urbanism. He built and developed several mixed-use, neo-traditional, developments in Europe and North America.
At the end of the 1980s, he was known as a member of Amiic (World Real Estate Investment Organization,
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
) and was a lecturer, with
Jean-Pierre Thiollet
Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist.
Primarily living in Paris, he is the author of numerous books and one of the national leaders of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CEDI), a ...
and other important people, of some international meetings of this organization (which was dissolved in 1997).
He is associated with the
European Urban Renaissance
The European Urban Renaissance is an architectural movement aiming at developing European cities according to traditional urban design principles and architectural styles. The movement is contemporaneous with the American New Urbanism movement.
Ty ...
movement. He was an advocate of "
vernacular architecture".
Spoerry is the author of ''A gentle architecture, from Port-Grimaud to Port-Liberté'', published in 1991.
Apart from the creation of
Port Grimaud Port Grimaud is a seaside town that forms part of the commune of Grimaud in the Var department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is located seven km () (four mi ()) west of Saint-Tropez and seven km () southwest ...
in
Var
Var or VAR may refer to:
Places
* Var (department), a department of France
* Var (river), France
* Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran
* Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...
, Spoerry's major works in France include:
* district of
Cergy-Pontoise
* development of the Tour Perret in
Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
, built by
Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret (12 February 1874 – 25 February 1954) was a French architect and a pioneer of the architectural use of reinforced concrete. His major works include the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the first Art Deco building in Paris; the C ...
, in
* Tour de l'Europe, in Mulhouse
* center of the city of
Le Plessis-Robinson
Le Plessis-Robinson () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. , it has 29,100 inhabitants.
History
Plessis was first mentioned in 839 as ''Plessiacus apud Castanetum'', meaning ''pless ...
* New village of
Gassin
Outside France his major works were:
*
Puerto Escondido, Baja California Sur
Puerto Escondido is a large natural harbor in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. It is located in the Loreto Municipality, Baja California Sur, Loreto Municipality 28 km south of Loreto, Baja California Sur, Loreto, on Mexican Federa ...
, Mexico
* neighborhood of
Port Liberté, Jersey City
Port Liberté is a section of Jersey City located on Caven Point, formerly one of the last natural sand beaches on the Upper New York Bay. The community is a European style village located along the western side of Upper New York Bay. The communi ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
* district of
Porto Cervo in
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
* district of Port Louis in
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
* village of
Bendinat
Bendinat is a seaside village in the municipality of Calvià on the west coast of the island of Majorca, part of the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. It is located at the foot of the Serra de Na Burguesa. Much of Bendinat is ...
in
Majorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
, Spain
*
Saifi Village,
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
Personal life
On 27 October 1945, Spoerry married Joy Pierrette Besse (1923–1952).
Spoerry and his wife had two sons, Yves and Bernard.
His father-in-law,
Antonin Besse
Antonin Besse (1877-1951) was a French-born businessman based in Aden, where he spent most of his adult life. St Antony's College, Oxford was established in 1950 as a result of a large donation he made to the university.
Early life
Antonin Bess ...
, was a wealthy merchant with businesses in
Aden
Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...
and
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
. Also a philanthropist, Antonin founded
St Antony's College, Oxford
St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economic ...
, and saved
Gordonstoun in
Moray
Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.
Between 1975 ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
from closure.
Spoerry was an avid sailor,
owning the schoone
Amphitritebetween 1966 and 1969.
He died at his home in Port Grimaud
in 1999 and is buried at the church in Port Grimaud.
References
* "Une ville qui réduirait la violence" avec Paul Léauté, 1980, in ''Sécurité et liberté'', La Documentation française (French)
* ''L'Architecture douce'', 1977, Édition Robert Laffont (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spoerry, Francois
1912 births
1999 deaths
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
French Resistance members
People from Mulhouse
École des Beaux-Arts alumni
20th-century French architects
New Classical architects