LEDOUX, CLAUDE-NICOLAS, was born at Dormans, in the department of the Marne, in 1736. He quitted the college of Beauvais at the age of fifteen, and went to Paris, where he at first gained his livelihood by engraving ; but an irresistible inclination led him to the study of architecture, with the principles of which he made himself acquainted in Blonder' Tours.' His prepossessing person and engaging address procured for him opportunities of displaying his talents, and he knew so well how to turn them to account that Madame Dnbarry appointed him her architect in 1771. It was for her that he erected the elegant pavilion De Louveciennes, and the Château de St. Vrin, near Arpajon. His high favour in that quarter not only established his *celebrity with the public, but immediately procured for him numerous commissions, both in the capital and the provinces. In Paris he built an hotel for Count dilalleville; in the Rue Michel le Comte, that of the Prince de Montmorency ; and, besides several others, the Hotel Thelusson, remarkable for the vast bridge-like gateway towards the street. One of tho best of his pro
vincial buildings was the Château de Benonville, near Caen. But it was the Barrieres of Paris that afforded him an opportunity of aban doning himself to his fancy; and considering the period of their erection, they certainly display considerable originality, though much of that is questionable in taste; and they have for the most part the appearance of being merely first ideas and sketches, carried at once into execution without having been revised and matured. The same remark applies to the large folio volume be published, consisting of a treatise on architecture, illustrated by designs, which, though they display much originality, are not a little extravagant. Ho died of a paralytic attack, on the 19th of November 1806, at the age of seventy.