Simon Louis du Ry (13 January 1726 in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

- 23 August 1799 in Kassel) was a classical

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 ...

Biography

Simon Louis du Ry was the son of the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

Charles du Ry and grandson of

Paul du Ry Jean Paul du Ry (1640 – 21 June 1714) was a French architect and Huguenot refugee who was responsible for a number of baroque buildings in Kassel, Hesse, Germany. Origins Jean Paul du Ry came from a family of French architects. His father was ...

of Kassel. He was from a French refugee family, who after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

had to leave France and went to Hessen under Landgrave Charles. After beginning studies in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...

1746–48 he was disappointed in his teacher

Carl Hårleman Baron Carl Hårleman (27 August 1700 – 9 February 1753) was a Swedish architect. Biography Hårleman was born in Stockholm, son of the garden architect and head of the royal parks and gardens Johan Hårleman, who had been ennobled in 1698. ...

and left for

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 ...

to attend the architectural school of

Jacques-François Blondel Jacques-François Blondel (8 January 1705 – 9 January 1774) was an 18th-century French architect and teacher. After running his own highly successful school of architecture for many years, he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the Acad ...

(École des Art) in 1748–52. After further educational trips in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

he returned to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and became chief architect on the court after the death of this father. In 1766 he was installed as professor architectura civilis at the Collegium Carolinum in Kassel. Under Frederic of Hessen he was responsible for the transformation of the old and partly destroyed town of Kassel into a modern capital. The Königsplatz (Kings square) and the Friedrichsplatz (Frederics square) remain the main squares in Kassel.

Works

* Kitchen Pavilion of the

Orangerie An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very large ...

in the Karlsaue, 1765–66, completed in 1770 * Garde du Corps Barracks * Auebridge * Opera house in Kassel, 1766–69 * Königsplatz (Royal Square), 1767 * Palace of Jungk, 1767–69 * Weißensteiner gate, from 1768–70 *

Fridericianum The Fridericianum is a museum in Kassel, Germany. Built in 1779, it is one of the oldest public museums in Europe.

, 1769–76 * Friedrichsplatz (Kassel), 1769 * Palais Waitz, from 1770 * Comedy House * Opera Square (Kassel), 1770 * Elizabeth Church (Kassel), c. 1770 * (Old) Royal Gate (Kassel), from 1775 * Friedrichstor / Auetor, 1779–82 * Brothers Grimm-Platz (Wilhelmshöher Platz), 1781 * William Bridge, from 1788 * Model house, after 1789 * Parish, Kirchditmold, 1790–92 * Bellevue Palace (Draft Paul du Ry ), conversion to 1790 Simon Louis du Ry designed and executed many

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

s and

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

s including: * Castle Wilhelmsthal, Calden, (1749), 1756–58 * Well Windhausen, Niestetal district Heiligenrode, 1769 * Wabern hunting lodge, extension 1770 * Castle Hüffe, Prussian Oldendorf Lashorst district, 1775–84 * Fürstenberg Castle, 1776–83 * Castle Mountain Home (Eder), 1785–86 * Wilhelmshöhe Castle, Kassel, 1786 * Schönburg castle, Hofgeismar, 1787–89 * House Kassel and landgrave house, bath nominal village, 1790/91

Biography

Works

References

Further reading