Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806) is today regarded as chief representative of French revolutionary architecture. With his extraordinary inventiveness he projected the architectural ideals of his era. Ledoux's influential buildings and projects are presented and interpreted both aesthetically and historically in this book.

This expanded edition comprises a new introduction as well as a chapter on Ledoux's influence and reception and all chapers have been updated.

His best-known projects - the Royal Saltwords of Arc-et-Senans, the tollgates of Paris, the ideal city of Chaux - reveal the architect's allegiance to the principles of antiquity and Renaissance but also illustrate the evolution of his own utopian language. With the French Revolution, Ledoux ceased building as his contemporaries perceived him as a royal architect. He focused on the development of his architectural theory and redefined the vision of the modern architect.


The author Antony Vidler, Dean of the Cooper Union architecture school in New York, is one of the leading architectural historians and theorists and an eminent authority of French revolutionary and enlightment architecture and the life and work of Claude-Nicolas Ledoux.

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806) is today regarded as chief representative of French revolutionary architecture. With his extraordinary inventiveness he projected the architectural ideals of his era. Ledoux's influential buildings and projects are presented and interpreted both aesthetically and historically in this book.

This expanded edition comprises a new introduction as well as a chapter on Ledoux's influence and reception and all chapers have been updated.

His best-known projects - the Royal Saltwords of Arc-et-Senans, the tollgates of Paris, the ideal city of Chaux - reveal the architect's allegiance to the principles of antiquity and Renaissance but also illustrate the evolution of his own utopian language. With the French Revolution, Ledoux ceased building as his contemporaries perceived him as a royal architect. He focused on the development of his architectural theory and redefined the vision of the modern architect.


The author Antony Vidler, Dean of the Cooper Union architecture school in New York, is one of the leading architectural historians and theorists and an eminent authority of French revolutionary and enlightment architecture and the life and work of Claude-Nicolas Ledoux.