| Pierre-Adrien Paris, a native of Besancon, France and Porrentruy, Switzerland, rose to prominence at the court of Louis XVI at Versailles as a designer of ephemeral decors for theater, opera, and spectacles. Chapter I, the most complete biography of the architect to date, considers his training in Rome and career in Paris, his exile to the countryside after the Revolution, and his activities as archeologist and collector. The remainder of the dissertation examines Paris' designs for hotels (for locations in Paris and Orleans, chapter II) and chateaux (in Normandy, Champagne, and French Guiana, chapter III). Whenever possible, supplementary material concerning the history of each project as well as the condition of surviving buildings has been provided. The conclusion attempts to assess Paris' work in the context of the theory and practice of domestic architecture of the period (primarily 1775-1803). It shows that Paris' first concerns were not the rigorous application of abstract theory nor the emotionalism of the romantic branch of Neoclassicism, but rather modern comforts and devices in complex intimate interiors and the desires of individual patrons, all couched in a broadly neo-Renaissance stylistic idiom. |
