View source for Henri Labrouste

{{short description|French architect (1801–1875)}}
{{expand French|topic=bio|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox architect
|name          = Henri Labrouste
|image         = Labroustehenri.jpg
|image_size    = 125
|caption       = 
|birth_name    = 
|birth_date    = {{Birth date|1801|5|11|df=yes}}
|birth_place   = Paris
|death_date    = {{death date and age|1875|6|24|1801|5|11|df=yes}}
|death_place   = [[Fontainebleau]]
|death_cause   = 
|residence     = 
|nationality   = French
|other_names   = 
|known_for     = 
|alma_mater    = {{Lang|fr|[[École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts|École des Beaux-Arts]]|italic=no}}
|occupation    = Architect
|religion      = 
|spouse        = 
|partner       = 
|significant_projects = [[Sainte-Geneviève Library]]
|awards        = {{Awards|award=Prix de Rome |year=1824 |title= |role= |name= }}
|children      = 
|parents       = 
|relatives     = 
|signature     = 
}}
'''Pierre-François-Henri Labrouste''' ({{IPA|fr|pjɛʁ fʁɑ̃swa ɑ̃ʁi labrust|lang}}) (11 May 1801&nbsp;&ndash; 24 June 1875) was a French architect from the famous {{Lang|fr|[[École des Beaux-Arts]]|italic=no}} school of architecture. After a six-year stay in Rome, Labrouste established an architectural training workshop, which soon became known for rationalism. He became noted for his use of iron-frame construction and was one of the first to realize the importance of its use.

==Biography==
Born in Paris, Labrouste was one of five children of {{Interlanguage link|François-Marie-Alexandre Labrouste|fr}}, a lawyer and politician from Bordeaux and Anne-Dominique Gourg (1764–1851), daughter and granddaughter of cognac merchants. He entered the [[Collège Sainte-Barbe]] as a student in 1809. He was then admitted into the second class and the Lebas-Vaudoyer workshop in the École Royale des Beaux Arts in 1819. In 1820, he was promoted to the first class.  Competing for the Grand Prix, Labrouste was awarded second place (the Palais de Justice scored first) by [[Guillaume-Abel Blouet]] in 1821. 

In 1823, he won the departmental prize and worked as a lieutenant-inspector (''sous-inspecteur'') for the director [[Étienne-Hippolyte Godde]] during the construction of the Saint-Pierre-du-Gros-Caillou parish in Paris. In 1824 Labrouste won the competition with a design of a Court of Appeals (Cour de cassation). In November, he left Paris for Italy, visiting Turin, Milan, Lodi, Piacenza, Parma, Modena, Bologna, Florence and Arezzo.

In July 1835 in Paris he was present at the scene when [[Giuseppe Marco Fieschi]] attempted the assassination of King [[Louis-Philippe]] using a home-made, multi-barrel gun fired from an upstairs window. Although the King only received a minor injury, 18 people were killed, including Henri's father, Alexandre Labrouste.<ref name="LabrousteBélier2012">{{cite book|author1=Henri Labrouste|author2=Corinne Bélier|author3=Barry Bergdoll|author4=Marc Le Cœur|author5=Martin Bressan|author6=Neil Levine|title=Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light|year=2012|publisher=The Museum of Modern Art|isbn=978-0-87070-839-8|pages=48}}</ref>

==Stay in Rome==
Receiving a pension or stipend from the French government for five years, he and the other Académie française laureates stayed in the Medici Villa in Rome. The directors of the Académie stated in correspondence in French about the laureates that, in their studies of antiquity, they "must research the laws of proportion and reduce them to formulas to be used by masters and students in Paris."<ref name=Academie>Correspondance des directeurs de l’Académie de France à Rome, tome 1, p. 28</ref>

==Work==
[[Image:Bibliothèque St Geneviève Paris.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Exterior of the Sainte-Geneviève library in Paris]]
[[Image:Salle de lecture Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve n02.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Reading room of the Sainte-Geneviève library in Paris]]
[[File:Société Centrale des Architectes Award Silver Medal 1860 by Oudiné and Labrouste, obverse.jpg|thumb|The obverse of a [[Académie d'architecture|Central Society of Architects]] silver award [[medal]]]]
His work was the subject of "Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light," the first solo exhibition in the U.S. of his work, at The [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York City.<ref>Corinne Bélier, Barry Bergdoll and Marc Le Coeur, ''Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light'', New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2013</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1319| title = Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light| date = March 10, 2013| access-date = March 23, 2013| publisher = moma.org}}</ref>

His buildings include:
* [[Sainte-Geneviève Library]], Paris, built between 1843 and 1850
* The Salle Labrouste, a [[Reference library|reading room]] in the {{Lang|fr|[[Bibliothèque Nationale de France]]|italic=no}} in the [[Rue de Richelieu]], Paris, and built between 1862 and 1868.

For the Société Centrale des Architectes, today called Académie d'Architecture, Labrouste designed several medals. 

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{ACArt}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Labrouste, Henri}}
[[Category:1801 births]]
[[Category:1875 deaths]]
[[Category:Architects from Paris]]
[[Category:19th-century French architects]]
[[Category:French neoclassical architects]]
[[Category:Prix de Rome for architecture]]
[[Category:École des Beaux-Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie des beaux-arts]]