Biography
Davioud was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Léon Vaudoyer. He won the prestigious Second Grand Prix de Rome. In 1843, he began working in the planning department of the municipal government of Paris. First, he served as an assistant inspector and later was promoted to inspector general for architectural works. In 1855, he became chief architect for the city’s parks and public spaces, where he worked with Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand (e.g. on the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes).[1]
In November 1851, Davioud was asked to execute drawings of the façades of 80 of the 250 buildings that were to be demolished under Haussmann’s plans to extend the rue de Rivoli in central Paris. The demolitions were to begin in early 1852. This left only 60 days for Davioud to complete his drawings, which were to be colorized using his notes. He completed the task, but many of these drawings were destroyed when the Hôtel de Ville (the town hall) was burned down in 1871 during the Paris Commune. The surviving drawings now form part of the archive of documentation of what Paris looked like before the Haussmannian transformation during the Second Empire.[2]
Davioud spent his entire career in the planning department of Paris. He was a key member of the team that radically altered the city’s layout and look. As a close associate of the urban planner Baron Haussmann, he designed much of the characteristic Parisian street furniture (benches, pavilions, bandstands, fountains, lampposts, signposts, fences, balustrades and jetties) as well as a number of landmark buildings. His work is noted for its ornamental quality and for its exotic references (e.g. the Moorish influences seen in the Palais du Trocadero).[1] Among his most notable projects are the popular Saint-Michel Fountain in Place Saint-Michel, the old Palais du Trocadéro (built for the 1878 World Fair, demolished in 1937), the town hall of the nineteenth arrondissement and the two theatres at the Place du Châtelet (the Théâtre du Châtelet and the Théâtre de la Ville.)
In 1868, Davioud succeeded Jacques Landry as mayor of Houlgate, where he stayed until 1871. His mandate was interrupted when he was appointed capitaine du génie during the Franco-Prussian War. Noted for his work in Paris, he built a single villa in Houlgate, La Brise, on the Route de Caumont.
Davioud died in 1881. In 1918, his family donated 600 of his drawings to the General Inspectorate of Technical Services for Architecture. The drawings were subsequently split between the Hôtel de Ville and the pavillon de Bagatelle. Their re-discovery in 1981 by the Library of the Hôtel de Ville helped to reveal Davioud’s major contributions to the city of Paris and rekindled interest in his work.[1]
