THIRIOT, Jean

French architect and engineer. He came from a family of masons in Lorraine and settled in Paris. He worked on the châteaux of Chessy (Seine-et-Marne; 1614; destroyed), La-Grange-du-Milieu (Essonne; 1617), Bois-le-Vicomte (Seine-et-Marne; 1619; destroyed) and Chilly-Mazarin (Essonne; 1627-33; destroyed), the latter two to designs by Salomon de Brosse and Clément Métézeau II respectively. He collaborated with Métézeau on the construction of the dam (1627-28) across the harbour at the siege of La Rochelle. He was in charge of construction of the châteaux commissioned by Cardinal Richelieu from Jacques Lemercier at Rueil (from 1633; destroyed 1817) and Richelieu (from 1631; destroyed 1805), and the church of Sainte-Ursule de la Sorbonne, Paris (1635-59), as well as the Palais du Luxembourg (from 1615), commissioned from Salomon de Brosse by Marie de’ Medici. In addition, he participated in the building of fortifications at Oléron and Brouage (Charente-Maritime).

Thiriot’s own style is evident in his designs for private residences in Paris, first during the 1620s (4, 8 and 10, Rue du Parc-Royal; 102, 106 and 110, Rue Vieille-du-Temple), and then in the late 1630s, including the Hôtel de Loynes (29, Quai de Bourbon) and the Hôtel Duret de Chevry (8, Rue des Petits-Champs), and in his modifications to the Hôtel d’Angoulème (24, Rue Pavée; now Hôtel Lamoignon). For some time he remained true to the popular colourful rustic style, using brick, developed in late 16th-century France; his design for the Hôtel de Loynes, however, abandoned this style for a façade entirely in stone. His hôtels were arranged symmetrically around a courtyard, with one or two wings, and pavilions at the junction with the corps de logis between the courtyard and the garden. These features were also propounded by Pierre Le Muet in Manière de bastir pour toutes sortes de personnes (Paris, 1623).