Auguste Choisy (7 February 1841 – 18 September 1909) was a French architectural historian and author of Histoire de l'Architecture.

Biography

Choisy was born in Vitry-le-François. He studied architecture in Paris at the École Polytechnique the École des Ponts et Chaussées from 1861 to 1863. As part of his studies, he traveled to Rome and Athens where his interest was in the structures of ancient monuments rather than their decorative detail. He was professor of architecture at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées from 1877 to 1901. In 1899, he published his two-volume book, Histoire de l'architecture. In it, he developed isometric drawings that combined plan, elevation, section, perspective into a single drawing. He then used this visual approach to describe buildings in social and material terms along with historical determinism. In 1904, he won the RIBA's Royal Gold Medal. Very important for the study of Greek architecture was his contribution "Le pictoresque et l'art grec" (chapter in The history of architecture). Choisy died on September 18, 1909, at age 68, in Paris.

Books by Auguste Choisy