Jacques Denis Antoine

After the fire at the Palais de Justice in 1776, he participated in the reconstruction, including the registry and the audience halls.

As an urban planner, he was the author of several modernization projects; notably a church modelled after the Pantheon, and new façades for the Place Dauphine.

Several hospital buildings were his work, including the Hôpital de la Charité[3] and, in 1781, a nursing home for poor priests.

[3] Although he kept his distance from events during the Revolution, he spent a brief period in the Prison de la Force, in 1793, accused of digging a tunnel from the Seine to the mint, so English agents could steal the gold.

Near the end of his career, in 1799, he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, taking Seat #4 for architecture.