Camille Robida

Jules Edmond Camille Robida (7 March 1880 – 10 January 1938) was a French architect and urban planner.[1]

Camille Robida
Born(1880-03-07)7 March 1880
Paris, France
Died10 January 1938(1938-01-10) (aged 57)
Passy, Haute-Savoie, France
NationalityFrench
Alma materÉcole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
OccupationArchitect
BuildingsStade Marcel-Saupin
ProjectsHéliopolis

Biography

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 racetrack building—for his Egyptian 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]

Selected works
  • Old Paris quarter at 1900 World's Fair
  • Héliopolis, Egypt
  • Stade Marcel-Saupin, Nantes

References
  1. "Camille Robida". inha.fr. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  2. Le Gall, Guillaume. "Paris, objet d'histoire : une ville, deux Paris". bnf.fr. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  3. "Patrimoine. Le théâtre municipal de Coulommiers : un concours de circonstances". actu.fr. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  4. Volait, Mercedes (2006). Un ensemble urbain Art Déco en Egypte: Héliopolis, banlieue du Caire. I Congrès international Ville et patrimoine, Art Déco, modèles de la modernité. Melilla. pp. 221–254.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. Bienvenu, Gilles (2013). De l'architecte-voyer à l'ingénieur en chef des services techniques : les services d'architecture et d'urbanisme de la Ville de Nantes du XVIIIe siècle au XXe (History of Art PhD). Paris: Université Panthéon-Sorbonne. p. 32.
  6. Marie-Cécile Bruwier; Florence Doyen, eds. (2019). Héliopolis, la ville du soleil (exhibition catalogue). Brussels: Boghossian Foundation.
  7. "Urbanisme et architecture à Nantes". nantesimmo9.com. 25 February 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  8. Gralepois, Mathilde (31 March 2010). Les risques collectifs dans les agglomérations française (PhD in Urbanism). Université Paris-Est. p. 31.
  9. Ginisty, Paul (1916). Les Artistes morts pour la patrie (août 1914 – décembre 1915). Paris: Librairie Félix Alcan. pp. 148–149.
  10. "Pour l'érection d'une stèle au capitaine Schlœssinger". Ouest-éclair. Rennes. 31 August 1934.
  11. "Monument à Louis Schloessinger". À nos grands hommes. Musée d'Orsay. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
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