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Camille Robida
French architect (1880–1938) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jules Edmond Camille Robida (7 March 1880 – 10 January 1938) was a French architect and urban planner.[1]
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Biography
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The son of science-fiction illustrator Albert Robida, he graduated from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and was originally based in Le Vésinet near Paris. Under the [[creative direction of his father, Robida designed the Old Paris quarter for the 1900 World's Fair, which received mixed reviews.[2] Another early work is Coulommiers' Art Nouveau theatre (1904), which has been registered as a monument historique, albeit largely for its well-preserved stage machinery.[3]
In 1907, he was hired by Baron Empain to build a casino—which morphed into a building for an adjacent horse racing track—in his Egyptian new city, Héliopolis. He soon graduated to the position of chief architect for the entire project, designing residences for a wide variety of demographics ranging from blue collar workers to high ranking government officials.[4] He stayed with the venture until 1912.[5][6]
Robida spent most of his later career in Nantes. He co-authored the city's 1920 expansion plan,[7] and his awareness of urban industrial risks has been described as ahead of its time.[8] He designed Stade Marcel-Saupin, the former home of FC Nantes, and many housing buildings of the era.[5] His successor as Nantes' principal urbanist, Georges Sébille, was also a former Héliopolis employee.[6]
Robida fought in World War I, and had his left leg amputated in September 1914.[1] His younger brother Henry, who had just been appointed consulting architect to the government of Siam, was killed in action the same month.[9] The elder Robida received the Médaille militaire and the Croix de Guerre, and was a prominent member of several veterans' groups. As the city's architect, he drew downtown Nantes' World War I memorial and lobbied for a second monument to disabled veteran Louis Schloessinger in the north of the city,[10] which was partially destroyed during World War II.[11] For his advocacy work, he was made an Officier of the Légion d'honneur.[1]
Robida died of tuberculosis in Passy, Haute-Savoie, which at the time housed one of France's largest sanatoriums.[1]
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Selected works
- Old Paris quarter at 1900 World's Fair
- Héliopolis, Egypt
- Stade Marcel-Saupin, Nantes
References
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