Théodore Ballu (8 June 1817 – 22 May 1885) was a French architect who designed numerous public buildings in Paris . He is the grandfather of the industrialist and politician Guillaume Ballu.

Winning the Prix de Rome

In 1840, Théodore Ballu won the . That year competition's final challenge was to design a palace for the

Chambre des Pairs The Chamber of Peers () was the upper house of the French parliament from 1814 to 1848. History The Peerage of France was recreated by the Charter of 1814 at the same time as the Bourbon Restoration in France, Bourbon Restoration, albeit on a ...

. Ballu designed the Église de la Trinité and directed the reconstruction of the Hôtel de ville, the city hall building in Paris, after a fire destroyed much of the original building.. The young laureate then left Paris and boarded at the Académie de France à Rome. He lived in the Villa Médicis from January 1841 to December 1845. He visited the ruins of

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

and his third year there was dedicated to

Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...

. In 1844–1845, his projects focused on the Érechthéion de l’Acropole d’Athènes.

Architecture in Paris

Back in France, Théodore Ballu became an assistant to architect Franz Christian Gau on the Basilique Sainte-Clotilde construction site, then took charge after Gau's death in 1853. From then on, his career was much focused on his preference for religious buildings. In 1860, he was named chief architect of Parisian buildings related to the religion. He then designed the Église de la Trinité (1861–1867), the Saint-Esprit temple on Rue Roquépine, and the churches of Saint-Ambroise (1863–1869) and Saint-Joseph (1866–1875). He also directed the Saint-Jacques Tower restoration (1854–1858) and the construction of the Saint-Denis church in

Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Argenteuil is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France, ...

(1866). L’Eglise de la Trinité is very emblematic of his work because it demonstrates his extensive knowledge of various architecture styles, his passion for

eclecticism Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories i ...

, which was very popular at the time, his tendency to incorporate numerous sculpted or painted decorations and his in-depth knowledge of cost-efficient construction. The Trinité area became the architect's favorite place, where he owned several properties and designed his home.

The Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois belfry

From 1858 to 1863, Théodore Ballu designed and created the belfry of the Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois church. The area had not yet been completely transformed by Haussmann’s renovation of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The ancient parish church of the

French monarchs France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...

was still concealed behind buildings that separated it from the

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

of the

Palais du Louvre The Louvre Palace (, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Ger ...

. In 1859, architect Jacques Hittorff began the construction of a new building in the north to house the city council of the 1st arrondissement, which reproduced a large part of the church’s facade and was inspired by Gothic and

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define ...

architecture. File:La Tour St. Jacques La Boucherie à Paris ca. 1867.jpg, Saint-Jacques Tower circa 1867, restored by Ballu between (1854–58) File:Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois et mairie.jpg, The belfry of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois (1858–63) File:Église de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris Face.JPG, Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris (1861–67) File:Jielbeaumadier eglise st-ambroise paris 2007.jpg, Église Saint-Ambroise, Paris (1863–69)

References

Bibliography

* Répertoire des architectes nés ou actifs dans les Vosges : 1800–1940, Épinal (2007), Archives départementales des Vosges, ISBN 978-2-86088-052-7

External links

*
Drawings by Ballu, on ''ENSBA''

* ttp://www.cosmovisions.com/Ballu.htm Cosmovisions* ttp://www.parisinfo.com/musee-monument-paris/71267/Tour-Saint-Jacques Paris Tourism Tour Saint Jacques {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballu, Theodore 1817 births 1885 deaths 19th-century French architects Architects from Paris Prix de Rome for architecture Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery École des Beaux-Arts alumni Members of the Académie des beaux-arts