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LOUIS, Victor - b. 1731 Paris, d. ~1800 Paris - WGA

LOUIS, Victor

(b. 1731 Paris, d. ~1800 Paris)

French architect and designer. He changed his birth name “Louis-Nicolas Louis” to “Victor Louis”. He was a student of Louis Adam from 1748. In 1755 he won the “Grand Prix”, or more precisely a special “Premier Prix extraordinaire hors concours” as his final design did not agree with his esquisse.

While in Rome (1756-59), he offended the director of the Academy there, Charles-Joseph Natoire, and this social misstep resulted in his subsequent exclusion from the Academy of Architecture and from participation in royal building projects. However, after an unproductive sojourn in Poland (1765), he returned to France and began receiving commissions. The Intendance (governor’s residence) at Besançon (begun 1771) was his first important building, and this was followed by his masterpiece, the Grand-Théâtre in Bordeaux, the largest theatre in pre-Revolutionary France. With its impressive colonnade of 12 huge Corinthian columns and its elegant Neoclassical vestibule and symmetrical staircase lit by a glass dome, this building became the model for subsequent French theatre buildings and was the prototype for Charles Garnier’s Paris Opera House.

Among Louis’s patrons were the Duke of Richelieu, Governor of Guyenne and Stanislaw Poniatowski, King of Poland. Louis designed decorations, possibly for festivals.

Exterior view
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Exterior view

Victor Louis developed his characteristic picturesque style and his particular feeling for theatrical effects during his four-year stay in Rome. His H�tel de l’Intendance in Besan�on followed the usual pattern of a “cour d’honneur” screened from the street and semi-circular on one side. Continuous Ionic pilasters, which become engaged two-thirds columns in front of the elongated, pedimented centrepiece of the court fa�ade, evenly divide the “corps-de-logis,” which has a rectangular ground plan. The wall surfaces are mainly taken up by large, rectangular windows. On the garden side, the domed centre salon forms a convex projection. The delicate surface treatment of the fa�ades with fluted pilasters, a continuous, uninterrupted entablature and festoon reliefs over the ground floor apertures is characteristic of Louis’s decorative touch, but also strikes a traditional note.

The photo shows the court fa�ade.

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Exterior view
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Exterior view

Victor Louis developed his characteristic picturesque style and his particular feeling for theatrical effects during his four-year stay in Rome. His H�tel de l’Intendance in Besan�on followed the usual pattern of a “cour d’honneur” screened from the street and semi-circular on one side. Continuous Ionic pilasters, which become engaged two-thirds columns in front of the elongated, pedimented centrepiece of the court fa�ade, evenly divide the “corps-de-logis,” which has a rectangular ground plan. The wall surfaces are mainly taken up by large, rectangular windows. On the garden side, the domed centre salon forms a convex projection. The delicate surface treatment of the fa�ades with fluted pilasters, a continuous, uninterrupted entablature and festoon reliefs over the ground floor apertures is characteristic of Louis’s decorative touch, but also strikes a traditional note.

The photo shows the garden front.

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Exterior view
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Exterior view

In the case of the independent public theatre, liberated from the court context, Neoclassical styles were used. The Grand Th�âtre in Bordeaux was considered by contemporaries to be the loveliest theater in the world. Its exterior, built between 1777 and 1780, with the broad sweep of the pillared front of house and its continuous entablature is charming; the magnificent staircase of the interior was the model for the Paris Op�ra.

The picture shows the main front of the theatre.

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Exterior view
Exterior view by

Exterior view

In the case of the independent public theatre, liberated from the court context, Neoclassical styles were used. The Grand Th�âtre in Bordeaux was considered by contemporaries to be the loveliest theater in the world. Its exterior, built between 1777 and 1780, with the broad sweep of the pillared front of house and its continuous entablature is charming; the magnificent staircase of the interior was the model for the Paris Op�ra.

The picture shows the main front of the theatre.

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Interior view
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Interior view

In the case of the independent public theatre, liberated from the court context, Neoclassical styles were used. The Grand Th�âtre in Bordeaux was considered by contemporaries to be the loveliest theater in the world. Its exterior, built between 1777 and 1780, with the broad sweep of the pillared front of house and its continuous entablature is charming; the magnificent staircase of the interior was the model for the Paris Op�ra.

The picture shows the staircase.

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Interior view
Interior view by

Interior view

In the case of the independent public theatre, liberated from the court context, Neoclassical styles were used. The Grand Th�âtre in Bordeaux was considered by contemporaries to be the loveliest theater in the world. Its exterior, built between 1777 and 1780, with the broad sweep of the pillared front of house and its continuous entablature is charming; the magnificent staircase of the interior was the model for the Paris Op�ra.

The picture shows the staircase.

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