Ledoux and Boullee: Visionary Architecture of the Revolution

Etienne-Louis Boullee (1728-99)

Project for the Bibliotheque Nationale (National Library), Paris 1785

Monument to Isaac Newton, c. 1784

  Exterior, note the rows of cypress trees ringing the sphere

  Interior at night, with its own internal illumination recreating the solar system

Interior during the day, with light admitted through holes in the dome to recreate the night sky

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1735-1806)

Hotel Thelusson, Paris (demolished)

House for Marie-Madeleine Guimard, Paris, 1773-6

   Elevation, composed of a double height coffered niche screened by four Ionic columns. The figure sculpture resting on the entablature of the portico represents Terpsichore, the muse of dancing, an appropriate choice as Guimard was a dancer at the Paris Opera

Plan, showing the small private theater on the second floor of the gate house

Barrieres, or toll gates for Paris, 1784-89

  Most of Ledoux's toll gates were destroyed in the French Revolution shortly after they were completed.

    Rotonde de la Villette, Paris; one of the few surviving toll gates.

Ideal town of Chaux (1775-9)

Aerial view showing the salt works which were built at the center of the double D-shaped plan

Director's House, Saltworks, Arc et Senans; note the Banded Doric columns

   Detail  The curved range of work buildings

Detail used extensively throughout the Saltworks - showing concentrated salt water at the final moment before crystallization