Claude Nicholas Ledoux was an 18th century French architect born in 1736. He was educated in architecture in Paris and later worked as an engineer designing bridges. His dramatic style was influenced by Piranesi engravings and a visit to England where he was exposed to Palladian architecture. Some of his notable works included the Chateau of Maupertuis, Hotel d'Hallwyll in Paris, and his most famous project, the Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans near Besançon which had a semicircular plan and heavy classical detailing on buildings for extracting salt. Throughout his career he emphasized function but also dramatic symbolic classical forms that anticipated postmodern classicism.

1. Claude Nicholas Ledoux
By
mipul Kumar
Pankaj Kumar

2. Claude Nicholas Ledoux
(b. Dormans, France 1736; d. Paris, France
1806)
Claude Ledoux was born in Dormans, France in 1736. He
was educated at a private architectural school in Paris..
Established by J. F. Blondel, the school emphasized native
Baroque tradition but exposed students to English
architecture. After completing his studies, Ledoux assumed
several goverment positions as an engineer, mainly of
bridge design.
Ledoux' dramatic style owes much to the fact that he never
visited Rome. His concepts of Roman architecture were
accordingly warped by the engravings of Piranesi from
which he derived his knowledge. He did visit England,
where he was influenced by the Palladian tradition with
which he was already familiar.

3. style
Although much of Ledoux's architecture is
quite practical and functional, the "visionary"
aspects of his work are better known. His
designs became symbols of the ancient
regime and their exaggerated use of classical
elements seems to anticipate post-modern
classicism.

4. CHATEAU OF MAUPERTUIS
•Listed as his first work
Owner- Anne-Pierra de Montesquiou
Fezenzac
•It was like horseshoe 292.3 meters
in circumferences crowned with
balustrades, pierced with square and
round niches, arriving at a gentle
incline at the door of the vestibule.
•Reconstructed later.
•Now nothing remains of Ledoux’s.
•He gave priority to the natural setting
Of the building .
•His giant Doric orders and the famous
spherical house of the ‘garden agricoles’
were unforgettable elements.

5. HOTEL D’ HALLWYL , 1766
The street façade , the doorway combines the
traditional arched shape of the paris porte
cochiere with an articualtion of columns and
lintel.

6. HOTEL D’ HALLWYL , 1766
Street elevation and section through
rear court, engraving from Ledoux.
the street façade is made more
regular in the engraving .
The section shows the ionic colonnade
that was to be painted on the wall
facing the end of the garden.

7. DUC D’ UZES

8. CHATEAU OF BENOUVILLE, NEAR CAEN

9. CHATEAU OF BENOUVILLE, NEAR CAEN

10. The 1770s

11. HOTEL GUIMARD,1770

12. HOTEL GUIMARD ,1770

13. PAVILLION OF CHATEAN OF
LOUVEUENNES ,1771

14. PAVILLION OF CHATEAN OF
LOUVEUENNES ,1771

15. CHATEAU OF LOUVEUENNES
• 1773 EXTENTED TO A MORE CONVENTIONAL
BUILDING

16. CHATEAU OF LOUVEUENNES

17. THE SALT OF ARC AND SENANS
Near Besaneon
Ledoux’s famous salt factory, approved in 1773 and built in 1775-79,is semicircular
in plan, with the house of the director and the salt-extracting buildings on the
straight side.

18. Main entrance
heavy baseless Tuscan
columns
The interiors of the portico
The rusticated archway contains a grotto
Of natural rock.

19. Detail of decoration
The windows of the entrance portico are framed as urns spilling
forth petrified water, and the entrance grotto has imitation springs
to each side.

20. Salt extracting building
The architecture recalls French and
th century
Italian buildings of the 16