Normand Alfred Nicolas

Place: Paris

Born: 1822

Death: 1909

Biography:

Alfred-Nicolas Normand was a French architect and photographer born in Paris on June 1, 1822, and died in Paris on March 2, 1909. He was the son of Louis-Eléonor Normand, also an architect. Normand entered the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in 1842, where he studied under Alphonse-François Marie Jaÿ and his father. He won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1846 and became a pensionnaire at the Villa Medici in Rome from 1847 to 1851. During his stay in Rome, he developed an interest in photography and produced a series of calotypes in Rome, Pompeii, Athens, and Istanbul. In 1855, he decided to devote himself to architecture, although he continued to practice photography as a hobby. He was named an inspector of works and a deputy to Victor Baltard, the official Architect of the City of Paris, in 1853. He was one of several architects chosen by Prince Napoléon-Jérôme to design the Maison Pompéienne in 1856. Normand is known for his work on the Centre pénitentiaire de Rennes, a women's prison in Rennes, Brittany, France, which he designed in 1878. He was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1900.