Claude Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806), architect, french urban planner and utopian, one of the main creators of the neoclassical style. Autograph letter signed ” LeDoux “, no place [Paris], on 24 Octobre 1787, to “mes chers confrères “, 2 pp. in-4°.
Ledoux, architect of the General Farm was put in charge of erecting a barrier around Paris to limit smuggling which caused a major evasion of grant rights : it was the famous Wall of the General Farmers that should measure 6 miles (24 Kilometres) and have 60 offices of perceptions named by Ledoux “the Propylées of Paris” and to which he wanted to give a character of solemnity and magnificence while practicing his ideas on the necessary links between form and function. 50 grant barriers were built between 1785 and 1788. Most were destroyed in the 19th centuryth century.
Letter accompanying the sending of the “plans, coupes, élévations du bureau de Longchamp – et la disposition de la grille, les portes sont faites il y a quelques tems. » [Longchamp Barrier (or Chaillot), commissioned in 1788, was a building with four pediments and four arcades].
The architect argues about the layout of the gates: “M. de la boulaye [Gabriel Isaac Douet de la Boullaye (1734-1794), minister of finances] avoit précédamant décidé que l’on ne placeroit de grilles que d’un seul côté ; je luy ay représenté qu’il y auroit quelques inconvénients ; que l’isolement sembloit être arretté par la largeur des rües alignées par le bureau des finances à 30 syllabes verses.
Mais désirant porter sur tous les détails la plus grande œconomie, vous avez jugé que cet isolement pouvoit être réduit à dix-huit pieds.
Je pense que cette disposition suffit au besoin ; nos avis réunis ne peuvent que contribuer à donner à Mun de la boulaye les éclaircissements convenables pour opérer une décision.
He joins the « plans coupes et élévations du bureau de Lestoille de Neuilly que vous m’avez demandés “. [The Star Barrier, then named Neuilly Barrier (or the Champs-Élysées, or Saint-Germain), included two square buildings adorned with twenty colossal columns (alternating cubes and cylinders), a ledge, four pediments and a circular coronation. It was destroyed after 1859].
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux’s letters are rare, particularly those in which he talks about his work as an architect.
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