The French architect Louis Le Vau (1612-1670) was one of the creators of the French classical style, which dominated the academic architecture of the 17th century.

Louis Le Vau was born in Paris, the son of a master mason of the same name. By 1639 he was a successful architect whose interests centered on developing the Île Saint-Louis as a residential area. There he designed town houses for a number of wealthy patrons, including Sainctot, Hesselin, Gillier, Gruyn des Bordes, and Jean Baptiste Lambert. The Hôtel Lambert reveals the architect to be a brilliant innovator in adjusting an imaginative plan to a highly irregular site. He also designed country residences. Before 1645 he built the château of Livry, later named Le Raincy (destroyed in the French Revolution).

In 1654, with his appointment as first architect to the king, Le Vau was catapulted into the limelight. Three...