Hector-Martin Lefuel (pronounced[ɛktɔʁmaʁtɛ̃ləfɥɛl]; 14 November 1810 – 31 December 1880) was a French architect, best known for his work on thePalais du Louvre, includingNapoleon III's Louvre expansion and the reconstruction of thePavillon de Flore.

He was born inVersailles, the son of Alexandre-Henry Lefuel (1782–1850), a building contractor. He was admitted to theÉcole des Beaux-Arts in 1829, studied there withJean-Nicolas Huyot and in 1833 received second place in the Prix de Rome competition. By that time, his father died, and he had to spend the next few years managing the family building business.^[1]

He won thePrix de Rome in 1839 and subsequently spent the years 1840 to 1844 as a pensionary of theFrench Academy in Rome at theVilla Medici.^[1]

On his return to France, he opened his own practice and was appointed a building inspector for theChamber of Deputies.^[1]

Having carried out alterations at theChâteau de Meudon (1848) and for the housing of theManufacture Royal de Porcelaine de Sèvres (1852), he was appointed chief architect of theChâteau de Fontainebleau, one of the residences ofNapoleon III under the new monarchicalSecond French Empire regime; there he designed a newRoccoco-style theatre (1853).^[1]

Due to his work on the theatre at Fontainebleau, Lefuel had received favourable notice fromNapoleon III. Following the death of the architectLouis-Tullius-Joachim Visconti in 1853, Lefuel was placed in charge of the ambitious project ofcompleting the Louvre. He kept Visconti's plans but modified the elevations, enriching them in profuse ornamental detail, and completed the project in record time for opening on 14 August 1857, when it became one of the showpieces of the Second Empire.^[1] Around 1856–1857, Lefuel also created lavish apartments for the imperial household in thePalais des Tuileries (lost when that palace burned in theParis Commune of 1871).^[2] Lefuel's work at theLouvre and the Tuileries became an exemplar of the nascentSecond Empire architectural style.^[1][3]

He was elected to theAcadémie des Beaux-Arts in 1855,^[1] taking the chair ofMartin-Pierre Gauthier. He was made a chevalier of theLegion of Honour in 1854, and a Commander of the Legion in 1857.

In his private practice, Lefuel designed and erected in Paris the Hôtel Fould (1856, destroyed)^[1] forAchille Fould, Minister of Finance under Napoléon III.

Napoleon III later tasked him with the reconstruction of thePavillon de Flore and the western part of theGrande Galerie from the Pavillon de Flore to the Guichets du Carrousel, work which he carried out from 1861 to 1869.^[1]

In 1869–1876, he builtNeudeck Palace for FürstHenckel von Donnersmarck at Neudeck bei Bethen in Silesia.^[1] The palace was inLouis XIII style and was the grandest of three residences there of the Donnersmarcks. It was burnt out byRed Army orWehrmacht soldiers in 1945 and demolished in 1961.

In 1870, he built the Hôtel Nieuwerkerke^[1] (in Paris'sParc Monceau) for the museum directorÉmilien de Nieuwerkerke (and the Hôtel Émonville in Abbeville).

After the Tuileries Palace was destroyed by fire in 1871, Lefuel reconstructed the western half of the Louvre’s Galerie Nord (1871–1876)^[1] and was in charge of the repairs to thePavillon de Flore and the symmetrical reconstruction of thePavillon de Marsan to the north, in 1874–1879.^[4]

He designed funeral monuments, such as that to the composersDaniel-François-Esprit Auber andFrançois Bazin atPère Lachaise Cemetery.

Hector-Martin Lefuel died in Paris and is buried atPassy Cemetery.^[5]

• 
  Pavillon Sully at the eastern end of the Cour Napoleon^[6]
• 
  Grand Salon of the Napoleon III Apartments^[7]
• 
  Central chandelier of the Grand Salon
• 
  Great Dining Room of the Napoleon III Apartments
• 
  Salle d'Auguste (originally Salle des Empereurs)^[8]
• 
  Mollien Pavilion of the Denon Wing
• 
  Cour Lefuel (Denon Wing) with horse ramps leading to the former Emperor's Stables
• 
  Tympanum over the door to the former stables from the Cour Lefuel
• 
  Salle du Manège (former stables)^[9]
• 
  South facade of the Guichets du Carrousel (1861)^[10]
• 
  Pavillon de Flore, south facade^[11]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHector-Martin Lefuel.

• Aulanier, Christiane (1971).Histoire du Palais et du Musée du Louvre: Le Pavillon de Flore. Paris: Éditions des Musées nationaux.OCLC 468520874.
• Bautier, Genevieve Bresc (1995).The Louvre: An Architectural History. New York: The Vendome Press.ISBN 9780865659636.
• Fonkenell, Guillaume (2010).Le Palais des Tuileries. Arles: Honoré Clair.ISBN 9782918371045.
• Hamerton, Philip Gilbert (1885).Paris in Old and Present Times,p. 38.
• Hare, Augustus John (1887).Paris,p. 20. G.Allen.
• Mead, Christopher (1996). "Lefuel, Hector-Martin", vol.19, pp. 69–70 inThe Dictionary of Art (reprinted with minor corrections in 1998), edited by Jane Turner. London: Macmillan.ISBN 9780333749395.Online reprint atOxford Art Online(subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required).

• Works by or about Hector Lefuel at theInternet Archive

• 19th-century French architects
• 1810 births
• 1880 deaths
• Architects from Versailles
• Burials at Passy Cemetery
• Prix de Rome for architecture
• Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
• École des Beaux-Arts alumni
• Commanders of the Legion of Honour
• People associated with the Louvre

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Pages with French IPA
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Articles with Internet Archive links