The son of a carpenter, he studied with an architect, whose name is unknown, and went to work as a mason. In 1760, he became a contractor and, three years later, began proposing architectural projects. In 1765, he was engaged by the architects Boullée and Chefdeville to build the new Hôtel des Monnaies.[1] After much planning, and a change of location, the first stone was laid in 1771, and the final decorative work finished in 1775. For his management of the project, and its prompt completion, Antoine was admitted to the Académie Royale d'Architecture. He was also given an apartment on the building's second floor, where he lived until his death.
After the fire at the Palais de Justice in 1776, he participated in the reconstruction, including the registry and the audience halls.[2] The following year, he made a trip to Italy, visiting Piedmont, Lombardy and Venice. For part of the trip, he was accompanied by his friend, the architect Charles De Wailly.
As an urban planner, he was the author of several modernization projects; notably a church modelled after the Pantheon, and new façades for the Place Dauphine. He also proposed a plan for linking the Louvre with the Tuileries. Several hospital buildings were his work, including the Hôpital de la Charité[3] and, in 1781, a nursing home for poor priests.
In 1787, he succeeded Claude-Nicolas Ledoux as Director of the Gates of Paris.[3] Although he kept his distance from events during the Revolution, he spent a brief period in the Prison de la Force, in 1793, accused of digging a tunnel from the Seine to the mint, so English agents could steal the gold. He was able to clear himself, and retired to a property he owned in Touraine.
Near the end of his career, in 1799, he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, taking Seat #4 for architecture. He died two years later, and was interred at the Cimetière de Saint-Sulpice [fr] in Vaugirard.
