Architecture and Enlightenment

The position from which Leroy would propagate his ideas about architecture throughout most of his life was as mentor to several generations of students in the Académie Royale d’Architecture in Paris. Following his election in 1758, Leroy quickly rose to special prominence within the Academy. With the appointment of his former teacher Jacques-François Blondel as professor in 1762, the Marquis de Marigny created the positions of historiographer and adjoint to the professor specifically for Leroy, a clear acknowledgment of his exceptional merit and dedication to furthering the goals of the institution. ¹ Between 1762 and 1774, Blondel and Leroy formed a sort of teaching team in the Academy school and, after Blondel’s death in 1774, Leroy succeeded to the position of professor. Thus, for a period of forty years spanning 1762 to 1803, the administrative activities of the Academy and official architecture pedagogy were Leroy’s principal occupations. ²