François Henry Spoerry (28 December 1912 – 11 January 1999) 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 ...

, developer, and urban planner who created the seaside town of Port Grimaud. He was an Officier of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

and an Officier of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The 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 the recognition of significant ...

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 and songwriter. She has attained various charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's " Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm", " Ciao ...

, a physician, aviator and adventurer, Therese, and Martine. After finishing school, Spoerry studied architecture at the

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

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

in 1930. He became an assistant to Jacques Couëlle during the period of 1932 through 1934. He graduated from

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

in 1943 . During World War II, he used an architectural research project in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

as a cover for working with the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

. In April 1943, he was arrested and deported to

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

and then Dachau.

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,

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) and was a lecturer, with

Jean-Pierre Thiollet Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist. He is also affiliated with the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, a European trade union. Career Thiollet attended a school in Châtelleraul ...

and other important people, of some international meetings of this organization (which was dissolved in 1997). He is associated with the European Urban Renaissance movement. He was an advocate of "

vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture (also folk architecture) is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range a ...

". Spoerry is the author of ''A gentle architecture, from Port-Grimaud to Port-Liberté'', published in 1991. Apart from the creation of Port Grimaud in Var, Spoerry's major works in France include: * district of

Cergy-Pontoise Cergy-Pontoise () is a new town and an agglomeration community in France, in the Val-d'Oise and Yvelines departments, northwest of Paris on the river Oise. It owes its name to two of the communes that it covers, Cergy and Pontoise. Its population ...

* development of the Tour Perret in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

, built by Auguste Perret, in * Tour de l'Europe, in Mulhouse * center of the city of

Le Plessis-Robinson Le Plessis-Robinson () is a Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. , it has 29,100 inhabitants. History Plessis was first mentioned in 839 as ''Plessiacu ...

* New village of

Gassin Gassin () is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (département), Var Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in southeastern France. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (T ...

Outside France his major works were: * Puerto Escondido,

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Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

* neighborhood of Port Liberté, Jersey City,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, USA * district of Porto Cervo in

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, Italy * district of Port Louis in

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, USA * village of Bendinat in

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, Spain * Saifi Village,

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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, was a wealthy merchant with businesses in

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and

. Also a philanthropist, Antonin founded

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is a constituent college 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, economics, politic ...

, and saved

Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School ( ) is an elite co-educational Private school (United Kingdom), private school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. Two generations of British royalty were educated at Gordonstoun, including Prince Philip, Duke of Ed ...

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 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. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

from closure. Spoerry was an avid sailor, owning the schooner Amphitrite between 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 Officers of the Legion of Honour 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