GARNIER (Charles). - Lot 101

GARNIER (Charles). Born in Paris. 1825-1898. Architect, he was responsible for the construction of the new Paris Opera House, also known as the Garnier Opera or Garnier Palace. L.A.S. "Ch. Garnier" to "Monsieur". Paris, July 3, 1895. 1 page in-8. On the letterhead of : MINISTÈRE DES TRAVAUX PUBLICS - Agence des travaux du nouvel OPÉRA. Charles Garnier makes himself available to his correspondent ...to answer any questions you may have about the Orange theater. I don't pretend to be right on all points; but I will at least give you a sincere opinion...He will, however, be absent from Paris for a few days, and indicates the days and times when he can receive him before his departure. He adds ...If it were impossible for you to come, we would have to postpone our interview until the middle of next week...Trained by the architect Hippolyte Le Bas, Charles Garnier entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1842. He was awarded the first Grand Prix de Rome for architecture in 1848. His travels in Italy and Greece left him with a taste for polychromy and a perfect integration of the three arts: architecture, sculpture and painting. When, in 1861, he won the competition for the new Paris opera house called for by Napoleon III, he set out to visit all the great halls of Europe. Construction began in August 1861, but was slowed down several times. LOpéra de Paris was inaugurated on January 5, 1875 by the President of the Republic, Marshal de Mac-Mahon, and the Théâtre d'Orange opened on December 30, 1885. Its first architect, André-Jean Boudoy, a former collaborator of Charles Garnier, was succeeded by Léopold Carlier, an architect from Montpellier. Requisitioned by the German authorities during the Second World War, then transformed into a meeting room, the Théâtre d'Orange was restructured in 1981 and is now used for a variety of events.