The New International Encyclopædia/Duc, Joseph Louis

DUC, dụk, Joseph Louis (1802-79). A French architect, born in Paris, and a pupil of Percier at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He won the Prix de Rome in 1825. While still a young man, he was chosen with Alavoine to design the monument in the Place de la Bastille (1840). In 1854 he and the architect Dommey began to enlarge and rebuild the Palais de Justice. Duc gave himself entirely to this task, which occupied him about twenty-five years. It is an imposing mass of buildings in the Neo-Classic style. Upon its completion Napoleon III. presented him with the exceptional prize of 100,000 francs, a portion of which the architect set aside to establish a biennial prize for high studies in architecture. He was made a member of the Institute in 1866, and inspector-general of all civil buildings in 1871. His other works include the monuments to Duban and Henri Cahieux.