Louis Le Vau

Louis Le Vau, born Louis Le Veau, was a French architect who lived from about 1612 to 11 October 1670 and worked for King Louis XIV. With Salomon de Brosse, Jacques Lemercier and François Mansart he was one of the early exponents of French architectural classicism. The son of a Paris stonemason, he began with the Hôtel de Bautru in 1634 and designed town houses on the Île Saint-Louis, notably the Hôtel Lambert. In 1654 he became first architect to the king, succeeding Lemercier. He designed the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte for Nicolas Fouquet, worked on the Louvre and the Tuileries Palace, and spent the rest of his life at Versailles, where he rebuilt the garden facade. His assistant François d'Orbay completed the Collège des Quatre-Nations after his death.