Louis Bernier

Born in Paris, Bernier entered the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1864 as a student of Honoré Daumet.

Twice a finalist in the competition for the Prix de Rome, he won the first grand prize in 1872 for a natural history museum project.

[1] Back in Paris in 1878, he joined the government bureaucracy as an architect for the Conseil Général des Bâtiments Civils.

[1] Bernier's major work is the Opéra-Comique theatre, the Salle Favart, which needed to be rebuilt following an 1887 fire.

[1] He obtained the commission by winning a competition judged by five winners of the Grand Prix de Rome (including Charles Garnier), which ensured the design would reflect academic and official tastes.