Jacques Carlu (7 April 1890 Bonnières-sur-Seine – 3 December 1976 Paris) 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 ...

and designer, working mostly in

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style, active in France, Canada, and in the United States.

Biography

Through the 1910s Carlu studied on site with British city planner

Thomas Hayton Mawson Thomas Hayton Mawson (5 May 1861 – 14 November 1933), known as T. H. Mawson, was a British garden designer, landscape architect, and town planner. Personal life Mawson was born in Nether Wyresdale, Lancashire, and left school at age 12. ...

, Pittsburgh architects Palmer and Hornbostel, and in the Paris studios of

Victor Laloux Victor Alexandre Frederic Laloux (15 November 1850 – 13 July 1937) was a French Beaux-Arts architect and teacher. Life Born in Tours, Laloux studied at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts ''atelier'' of Louis-Jules André, with his studies i ...

. After winning 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 ...

in 1919, Carlu takes a number of academic positions in quick succession: director of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at Fontainebleau, professor of architecture at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

from 1924 to 1934, and a position with the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York. With intensive transatlantic travel, Carlu becomes a sort of ambassador of Streamline Moderne style. His most famous building is likely the Palais de Chaillot,

Trocadéro The Trocadéro (), site of the Palais de Chaillot, is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. It is also the name of the 1878 palace which was demolished in 1937 to make way for the Palai ...

, near the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "' ...

, which was designed for the

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937) The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Mus ...

. The building's long wings now serve as museum space, and it features sculptural groups on the attic by Raymond Delamarre, Carlo Sarrabezolles and

Alfred Bottiau Alfred-Alphonse Bottiau (6 February 1889 – 25 February 1951) was a French sculptor. He was born in Valenciennes and after early studies in his home town he studied in Paris under Jean Antoine Injalbert and was runner-up for the Prix de Rome f ...

. His other buildings include the 1957

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

HQ (see of the Secretary General) in Paris (until 1967), now

Université Paris-Dauphine Paris Dauphine University - PSL (french: Université Paris-Dauphine, also known as Paris Dauphine - PSL or Dauphine - PSL) is a public research university based in Paris, France. It is one of the 13 universities formed by the division of the ancie ...

. Among his important interiors are the 1930 Eaton Auditorium in Toronto (now known as "The Carlu"), the 1943 French Nationality Room at the University of Pittsburgh's

Cathedral of Learning The Cathedral of Learning is a 42-story skyscraper that serves as the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's (Pitt) main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Standing at , the 42-story Late Gothic Revival Cat ...

, and other venues. Carlu is buried at the

Passy Cemetery Passy Cemetery (french: Cimetière de Passy) is a small cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. History The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery (''l'ancien cimetière communal de Passy'', located on Rue Lekain), ...

with his spouse Anne. He was the brother of French graphic designer

Jean Carlu Jean Carlu ( Bonnières-sur-Seine, France, 1900–1997) was a French graphic designer who specialised in posters. He was a member of a family of architects; his brother Jacques Carlu for example designed the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. He made pos ...

. Carlu was married to little-known artist Anne Carlu (née Peckard 1895-1972). A mural of Anne's resides in the hall of the United Nations, Palais des Nations, in Geneva Switzerland.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlu, Jacques 1890 births 1976 deaths People from Yvelines 20th-century French architects Prix de Rome for architecture École des Beaux-Arts alumni Members of the Académie des beaux-arts