Iconic Collaborations
In this series, we will look at an early root of contemporary architecture and planning: the Palace of Versailles. The differences with projects today vary greatly, but many of the problems and requirements the architects and administrators faced at the time remain concerns we deal with today. To understand where we are today, we have to look back at the history of architecture and planning.
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Part 2
Though many close to him had suspicions, it was never clear what Versailles was going to be from the start. This led to constant headaches for the king’s architects (and for the officials who had to figure out how to pay for it!)
The building transformed multiple times as it transitioned from a royal lodge to a palace and finally to a mini-city.
From the start, the architects had an idea of what the king wanted, but they were going off of stylistic designs based on previous palaces, without any clear idea of how much square footage would be required by the end.
Today we are able to use technology to bring requirements, budgets and design choices together, but back then paper plans led to decisions being made piece-by-piece before the process could continue.
Browser-based technology such as Arcol and other whiteboard tools allow multiple parties to bring ideas and inspirations together to fulfill a project. This allows people to have a record of the real-time ideation that goes into a project. Multiple teams and interests can centralize the whole record of work and inspiration that goes into a structure.
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The City of the Rich and its Architects
In her biography of Louis XIV, The Sun King, Nancy Mitford calls Versailles “The City of the Rich,” claiming that the project was a forerunner of Le Corbusier’s Unité modernist housing typology.
While most palaces rose out of proximity to a population center or for defensive needs, Versailles was conceived almost from scratch, and in 1682, the whole of the royal court was moved into the grounds, followed not long afterward by all the government staff.
Besides the taming of the woodland and the diversion of water discussed in Part 1, much had to be done to bring the hunting lodge into a palace and administrative complex capable of housing and providing workplaces for thousands.
The organization of Versailles was essential to ensuring that the government functioned smoothly. The builders had a few ideas of what was required, especially when it came to the typical residential aspects that were common to all European palaces at the time. But the end-game was never clearly laid out. Today, software helps clients work directly with architects via software and extensive feedback to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
But as it represented the ascendancy of the French royal family as the primary political force in the country—and in some ways, the continent—the style of Versailles had to project both wealth and power and a unique French style distinct from the Italian Baroque tradition that was most common at the time.
The Style of Versailles
The inspiration for Versailles stemmed from another palace called Vaux-le-Vicomte, owned by Nicolas Fouquet, then minister of finance for the king. It was built in what at the time was a novel style, French classicism, also called Louis XIV style today.
Vaux-le-Vicomte took aspects of Italian baroque architecture, popular throughout Europe in the mid-17th century, including symmetrical plans, classical columns and domes, and rhythmic façade treatments. It had a steep roof inspired by the work of then-popular French architect François Mansart (for whom the mansard roof is named).
With a high degree of symmetry, the architecture had to be incredibly precise. The center of the structure was occupied by a massive circular salon with chambers on each side. The architect, Louis Le Vau, organized the living quarters on either side.
At Vaux-le-Vicomte, he knew from the start that the work would require both a wing for the Fouquet family, as well as a wing for the royal family, an addition to any palace that was common at the time. Knowing the approximate use and capacity allowed Le Vau to create a concise structure using the vast funds of Fouquet. However, the budget of Vaux-le-Vomte was to be its undoing.
It is said Louis XIV saw Vaux-le-Vicomte and appreciated the grandiosity and uniqueness of the architecture. After a large party given by Fouquet, the king had the minister jailed for embezzlement.
Vaux-le-Vicomte was to be the prototype for Versaille and for the architectural style that would come to define the architecture of the French state for the next half-century. After seizing the palace for himself, Louis XIV conscripted the architect Le Vau and the interior decorator and artist Charles Le Brun, as well as landscape architect Le Notre, to come and work on Versailles, where both would work until their deaths in 1670 and 1690, respectively.
Officials and Artists
Because Versailles was to be an essential part of the state, ministers, architects, artists, military theorists, furniture makers, and aristocrats all participated in the primary stages of construction, which took almost 50 years.
Now, we have software that can lay out the plans, capacity, and materials and make sure that everything aligns with the budget and requirements.
But back then, interpersonal relationships and management were the only way to make sure that work went smoothly.
After Louis XIV imprisoned Fouquet, he elevated Jean-Baptiste Colbert to control the country’s finances and also act as the Superintendent of Royal Buildings, Arts and Manufactories, making him perhaps the most influential figure in the early stages of the construction of Versailles.
Colbert was never happy with Versailles and thought that the king should focus more of his attention on Paris. But he was a loyal subject and worked with the architects to carry out the work to make Versailles what is today. He met with Louis XIV several times a week to ensure that the progress was going smoothly.
“In the early days Colbert had no notion of what the house would become,” writes Mitford. He constantly agonized over the budget as it continued to balloon and divert resources from the rest of the country. Some estimate that by the end of construction, the equivalent of $2 billion was spent on the project.
While money wasn’t infinite at the time, the architects and designers had both the stress and the luxury of tying the budget to the vast resources of the royal family and the state.
Le Vau’s Envelope
Born in 1612, Louis Le Vau was one of the most famous architects of his time. He worked on numerous structures that still stand, including some of the 17th-century updates to the famous Louvre, which was originally a palace. He was the First Architect to the King and went to work in Versailles.
One of the king's strangest whims was his insistence on keeping the smaller house his father had built there. All of the architects who worked at Versailles insisted that they could tear down the original house and start from scratch, but Louis XIV refused.
Additionally, most of the materials and manpower had to be brought in from Paris or further afield.
Le Vau began his work by constructing a large enclosure for animals in 1663. This menagerie became a model for the keeping of animals in different spaces, a tendency that led to the development of modern zoos.
In 1668, Le Vau began work on an “envelope” around the original building. This envelope consisted of a stone façade on top of the original building, which was then renovated to go with the further additions. The envelope faced Le Notre’s expanding gardens.
The construction of the envelope also involved the renovation of the interior and the expanding of the rooftop by including balustrades decorated with statues, replacing the slate roofs previously used. More stone was used to cover the rest of the original structure. He worked with Le Brun “in perfect harmony” according to Mitford. The pair collaborated to fulfill the king’s vision of grandeur outside and inside.
He then constructed two large wings that extended away from the gardens, forming a massive U shape with the original building, now the king’s apartments, at the center of the base. Between the wings, he installed the massive Marble Courtyard, still visible today.
The architect died in 1970, while work was still being completed on the envelope and the first wings. His assistant, François d'Orbay, completed Le Vau’s work, referencing the paper plans left behind by his mentor. Orbay’s most famous contribution was the Ambassador’s Staircase, the primary entrance to the King’s apartments, which was later destroyed. Much of Le Vau’s work was expanded, covered up, or modified by the next royal architect, Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
A New Vision: Jules Hardouin-Mansart
Jules Hardouin-Mansart was born in 1646 and took the place as the king’s preferred architect after Le Vau’s death. The great-nephew of aforementioned French architect François Mansart, Hardouin-Mansart’s additions and replacements came to define Versailles and the surrounding buildings, as the structure expanded into a complex.
For the king’s lover, Madame de Montespan, he rebuilt a mansion at Clagny nearby (Montespan thought the original house was not grand enough), working with Le Notre to cloak it in the woods. Louis XIV liked the work and brought on the young architect to complete more work at Versailles.
Besides Clagny, he also completed a small retreat called Marly for the king to have quiet. Another palace, Grand Trianon, was also completed by the architect as a retreat for the king nestled in Le Notre’s gardens.
Since Le Vau was dead, Hardouin-Mansart shifted the plans, renovating much of the façade and tearing down a terrace built by Le Vau to install the famous Hall of Mirrors facing the gardens. He installed two new wings, massive structures at the top of the U form completed by Le Vau. In the South Wing, he installed the well-known Chapel of Versailles.
He constructed a massive garden, semi-underground and hugged by two large entrance staircases, called the Orangerie. He also had to account for the growing number of servants at the palace. At its height nearly 1,500 servants lived and worked there full-time, living in Hardouin-Mansart’s Grand Commun.
It’s unclear what the palace would have looked like if Le Vau’s plans were carried out. Today, with computer programming and digital planning software, plans are more easily passed from person to person so that multiple personalities, disciplines and visions over time.
However, Hardouin-Mansart did in many ways respect Le Vau’s style, keeping many of the Italian elements that characterize the building such as the columns and exterior decorations.
But Louis XIV was happy with Hardouin-Mansart—he made him a noble! His brother-in-law Robert de Cotte completed much of Hardouin-Mansart’s work following his death in 1708. By then, Versailles as we know it today was largely completed
Jules Hardouin-Mansart created many other structures throughout the country and trained many of the next generation of French architects.
In part two, we looked at some of the ways that different architects, clients, and officials worked together to bring to life the vision of the king and how we do things a bit differently today.
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Next time, we will talk about the organic and planned growth of the town around Versailles, as well as some of the furniture built for the palace.