François Spoerry
| François Spoerry | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
28 December 1912 Mulhouse, Alsace, France |
| Died | 11 January 1999 (aged 86) Port Grimaud, Var, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Known for | Tour de Europe |
| Spouse(s) | Joy Pierrette Besse |
| Children | Yves Spoerry; Bernard Spoerry |
François Henry Spoerry (Mulhouse, Alsace, France, 28 December 1912 – Port Grimaud, Var, France, 11 January 1999) was a French architect, developer, and urban planner. He was an Officier of the Légion d'honneur and an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
He was born in Mulhouse to a large, industrious family that had moved in 1848 from Switzerland to Mulhouse in 1848 to start up a textile business. The family had a holiday home at Partigon. His parents were Henry Spoerry (1879–1966) and Jeanne Schlumberger. Spoerry had three younger sisters: Anne-Marie, a physician, aviator and adventurer, Therese, and Martine.
After finishing school, Spoerry studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg in 1930. He became an assistant to Jacques Couëlle during the period of 1932 through 1934. He graduated from Marseille's École des Beaux-Arts in 1943 .
During World War II, he used an architectural research project in Aix-en-Provence as a cover for working with the French Resistance. In April 1943, he was arrested and deported to Buchenwald and then Dachau.
"My ambition has been to produce a style of architecture that makes the heart sing."
After the war ended, he opened his first architectural firm in Mulhouse where he associated with a significant number of reconstruction projects. In Mulhouse, he was the planner of the new town centre. He also built in Mulhouse the Tour of Europe, the largest structure in contemporary France whose top floor was a revolving restaurant. He also built several residential structures, including Wilson Tower (highest building in the city after the Tour of Europe), the Residence Clemenceau. Residence Pierrefontaine, and others. What is most significance about the work of Spoerry is that he broke with the first principles of Planning CIAM while rediscovering the principles of a dense urbanism. He built and developed several mixed-use, neo-traditional, developments in Europe and North America.
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