Biographical / Historical Note

The French architect Charles-Edouard Isabelle was born in 1800 in Le Havre and died in 1880 in Paris. He studied at the École des beaux-arts in Paris under Achille Leclerc. Between 1824 and 1828 he travelled in Italy,primarily to Naples, Pompeii, and Tuscany. After his return to France Isabelle won first prize for his design of the customs building in Rouen. He taught architecture and constructed the school buildings of the Écoles des arts et métiers in Châlon and Angers, as well as other structures in Plombières, Paris, Béziers, and Rouen. His publications include Parallèle des salles rondes antiques et modernes, Tombeau de Napoléon, and Édifices circulaires et dômes.