Jean-Benoît-Vincent Barré

Jean Benoît Vincent[1] Barré (Seine-Port, Seine-et-Marne, January 22, 1735 - Seine-Port 27 January 1824) was a French architect. He was one of the most important architects of the 18th century and one of the creators of the 'Louis XVI style' of architecture.

Biography

Jean Benoît Vincent Barré learned architecture in the school of Antoine Matthieu Le Carpentier, from whom he also derived part of his clientele.

He worked for very rich patrons, erecting sumptuous and elegant buildings, perfectly fitted to the taste of the day. His career nevertheless remains little known. He worked for financiers like Laurent Grimod de La Reynière, for whom he built the famous Hôtel Grimod de La Reynière in Paris, Jean-Joseph de Laborde[2] or for Laborde's father-in-law, Mathias de Nettine, banker at the Austrian court. Through Nettine's influence, he was commissioned to build Brussels's "place royale", church of Saint-Jacques-de-Coudenberg, and French embassy.

In 1770 he was named inspector of the buildings for the king's gunpowder and saltpeter, during which appointment he built his best-known work, the château du Marais (1772–1779), for Jean Le Maître de La Martinière, treasurer-general of the artillery. For Louis Georges Érasme de Contades, maréchal de Contades, he rebuilt the château de Montgeoffroy, in Anjou.

Underrated by his fellow architects, only one other backed his presenting himself to the Royal Academy of Architecture.

Barré in 1772 gave himself over to property speculation in the Nouvelle France quartier of Paris, in association with Jean-François Perrin de Cypierre, intendent of the généralité of Orléans. Later he speculated in association with Antoine Roy, who married Barré's daughter Adélaïde-Sophie in 1793 and had two daughters by her.[3] (Roy made a great fortune and became finance minister upon the Bourbon Restoration.)

In 1797, Barré retired to his property of La Chesnaye at Seine-Port where he died of old age in 1824.

Main projects
  • Château d'Hénonville (Oise), between Pontoise and Beauvais, rebuilt for Jean-Marie Roslin d'Ivry, 1765–1771.
  • Château de Montgeoffroy (Maine-et-Loire), 1772–1775, rebuilt for marshal Louis Georges Érasme de Contades.
  • Château du Marais (Essonne), main work of the Louis XVI style, 1772–1779.
  • Hôtel Grimod de La Reynière, corner of Avenue Gabriel and Rue Boissy d'Anglas, Paris, for Laurent Grimod de La Reynière, 1775 (destroyed).[4]
  • Château du Lude (Sarthe), 1785, for the marquess of La Vieuville : Barré realised an important landscaped garden in removing the previous courtyard, building a portico to the western rooms and constructing the wing in the Louis XVI style. To the east, he masked the towers using parallel pavillons with higher roofs than the central pavillon, created a unified facade. The somewhat archaistic allure of this facade also avoids too marked a rupture with the 17th century parts of the building.
  • For the financier Jean-Joseph de Laborde, Barré created interior decorative schemes and, above all, more of his famous garden landscapes (in collaboration with the painter Hubert Robert) : cenotaph of Cook, rostrum-type column, temple of filial Pietas, Gothic tower, ruined bridge.
  • Hôtel Micault d'Harvelay, quartier de la chaussée d'Antin, Paris, for Joseph Micault d'Harvelay, Jean-Joseph de Laborde's father in law (destroyed).
  • Hôtel d'Aubeterre, quartier de la chaussée d'Antin, Paris (destroyed).
  • Hôtel de Cypierre, 26 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, Paris, for Jean-François Perrin de Cypierre (destroyed).
  • Hôtel Barré, 24 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, Paris, for himself.
  • Hôtel de Lalive, rue d’Artois
  • Maison de Monsieur Girault, Boulevard de la Chaussée d’Antin
  • Hôtel de Laborde, Boulevard des Italiens
  • Transformation of the château de Chevilly (Loiret), for Jean-François Perrin de Cypierre.
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References

Bibliography
  • Michel Gallet, Les architectes parisiens du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Éditions Mengès, 1995 – ISBN 2-85620-370-1
  • Michel Gallet and Gérard Rousset-Charny, « Barré », Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects, 1982

Notes
  1. Certain sources equally give the names Jean Baptiste Vincent or even Nicolas. He has equally been identified with a Toussaint Barré, builder of the main workshop for manufacturing Indienne-style cotton goods, founded by Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf at Jouy-en-Josas.
  2. Client of Le Carpentier in his famous château de La Ferté-Vidame
  3. Laure, who married the marquis de Talhouet, beginning the Talhouet-Roy line which still owns the château du Lude; and Élisa, countess of Lariboisière, founder of the hospital of the same name.
  4. Attribution given by Thiéry, 1787.
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